Who's the Real Monster?
by Anubis Enfield
Summary: I don't want this! I-I never wanted this to happen! W-Why! Why did this happen to me! Fate had it in for me. "You've got to be kidding me!" I cried, tears flowing steadily from my eyes as realization hit me like a brick. "I-I've got a… tail! I can't have a tail! I'm human!"
1. Uh meow

**Ah, J. Michael Tatum inspired this one with his story of getting his cat back during a storm.**

* * *

 _I don't want this! I-I never wanted this to happen! W-Why?! Why did this happen to me?!_ I continue to ask these questions, for many years after what had happened to me, though not all of them for the same reasons. Before, things were better. I was a normal guy. Well, as normal as one could get, but I liked it that way. Nothing exciting or dangerous really happened to me. I never broke a bone, my house was never robbed, no one in my family died from anything other than getting old, and life was generally good. My school life was normal and my friends were just like the hundreds of other friends you see walking down the street. My grades were average and my dream was to become a teacher. It was a bit dull sometimes, but I quickly got over it and was actually thankful for how normal and average my life was. Normal was good. Boring was good. But nothing ever really stays the way I want it to, it seems. And I was going to learn that very quickly.

Karma just seemed to hate me one particular day. The day I decided to bring my cat inside during a thunderstorm. I mean, it was just my luck that the one day he decided to run out was the one day that fate had it in for me. Next time the thing gets trapped out there, it can stay there. The unfortunate thing was, there wouldn't be a next time.

You'd think that I would know to run when my hair stood on end and the thunder rumbled just too loudly for comfort. I should've seen the signs. Some instinct of mine should have said, 'Hey, you better get your butt out of here!' but it was all too quick. One minute, I caught the pesky cat and the next, pain. Searing, burning, aching pain. Too much pain for me to stand and the darkness that engulfed me was more than welcome. Ah, but it wasn't over then. Hell, why would it be? I mentioned it before, didn't I? Fate had it in for me. But this all leads me back to where I am now. Lost…

"This seriously can't be right!" I cried, though 'bawled' is probably a better word.

I was surrounded by forest. Tall, thick trees that were unlike anything I'd seen before were spread around the small patch of grass I found myself in and I had absolutely _no_ idea where I was. What I did know, was that my ears _really_ hurt and the worst part? It wasn't _my_ ears that hurt! _Where I this pain coming from?!_ I searched the sides of my head desperately, but it wasn't coming there and when I looked down in worry, I jumped to a standing position with wide eyes.

"S-Snake!"

At least, that's what I thought the moving black thing was. The only thing wrong with that deduction, was the fact that this so called 'snake' was attached to me.

"No… No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening!"

I grabbed a hold of the offending object and yanked it, hoping that it was just a prank or something, but cried out when that caused a burst of pain from the end of my spine.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I cried, tears flowing steadily from my eyes as realization hit me like a brick. "I-I've got a… tail?! I can't have a tail! I'm human!"

 _No, wait. Wasn't I hit by lightning earlier? And where's the damn cat?!_ I looked up at the sky, but it was soft blue color, slowly turning red and orange with the setting sun and not a storm cloud in sight. _No. This isn't right. It can't be right!_ I looked around in a panic, trying to find anything that could help me figure out where I was, but I felt something atop my head twitch at the sound of a stick cracking nearby. I froze, but when nothing popped out, I slowly reached up to my head and felt the two soft, furry ears perched there, causing me to sniffle once more as tears continued to fall.

"W-Where am I? What's g-going on? Somebody please… Please help me."

I sunk to the ground, tugging on my newly discovered ears and wishing that I could just return to the normal life I had before this. It was impossible though. I _was_ , after all, lost somewhere I didn't know and now had cat appendages. Last I checked, that is the farthest thing from normal.

Night had settled by the time I had calmed myself down, though discovering that I was only a measly nine years old as compared to the fifteen years old I had been had me upset for a bit longer than I probably should've been. Everything else about me was still the same though, something I'd checked upon walking a ways and finding a dirty puddle to look at. Same short, messy black hair, same gender (Thank God I was a guy, albeit a wimpy one), and same light brown eye color; although it was nearly yellow in color now. This helped comfort me in a way, but I still had no idea where I was.

 _Grrr._

And I was hungry. I needed food. _Now._ But what could I do? I was in a forest and had no idea what was edible and what wasn't. I had grown up in the city, though I took a trip out to an uncle's ranch every summer for work, but I didn't have a clue how to survive out on my own in a place like this. I had no tools or weapons, so I couldn't hunt (not that I would be able to, to begin with) and I couldn't tell you whether the berries I found on a bush nearby were poisonous or not. Not to mention I couldn't tell what color they were in the dark anyway, with or without my new heightened eyesight and night vision.

 _Maybe, I could see if there's a city or town nearby if I climbed up a tree._ I stopped to look up at a tree, staring into its branches in the hope that there would be an easy way to get up it, but there wasn't so I sighed and began climbing as best I could with my shorter arms. Odd thing was, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected it. I was a hell of a lot more agile than I thought, and getting to the top only took a little effort. Once I was up there though, it felt as if all my problems just fluttered away. _Must be a side effect of being part cat, I guess._ I sighed once more. _Great. I'm starting to accept that I'm part cat after maybe a few hours. Maybe I'm just in shock. Yeah, that's it. Shock._

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I took that chance to look out across the forest. There wasn't much to see though. All I saw were more trees, though there was a section a _long_ way off where the tree line ended. Just when I thought all hope was lost, I caught sight of a cloud drifting up through the trees. _Wait…that's not a cloud. That's…smoke!_ Feeling a smile slip onto my face at the smallest hint of people, I scuttled down the tree and jumped off the lower branch, landing on my feet below before running off towards where I saw the smoke. _Maybe they'll have food! Or they could show me the way to a town or back home, even!_ By the time I reached the place where the smoke was coming from, I was huffing and puffing in exertion, but a small smile lit up my face as I pushed the bushes aside and took in the welcoming sight of a small campsite and the man seated on a log in front of a fire; a rabbit or some other small animal cooking over the open flames.

"I'm saved…" I muttered, catching the man's attention and I gave him a nervous smile. "Ah, could you, uh possibly help me? I need directions a-and some food would be nice."

The man's eyes widened and he stood up quickly, looking around before grabbing a torch from the fire and swinging it at me.

"Monster!"

I flinched back, sensing that something was wrong as he stalked forward shouting that same word.

"I-I don't know what you're saying." I said, taking a step back and holding my hands up defensively. "P-P-Please. I just want directions!"

"Monster! Stay back!"

He swung the torch again, closer to me this time, and I felt my ears go back, reminding me that I didn't exactly look _human_ right now. _I-I'm not a monster…I mean, I am, but not like that!_ I quickly began shaking my head and pointing at myself, hoping that maybe with sign language or something I could convince him that I'm not what he thought I was.

"N-N-No! I'm not a monster!"

He didn't listen, stepping even closer with a shout. "Stay back!"

Apparently, I hadn't stepped back far enough his time and when he swung the torch, it hit my arm and threw hot ash in my eyes, as well as setting my sleeve aflame. Panicking, I scrambled back with a yelp, trying to put out the fire and clear my eyesight at the same time, hearing the man shout once more, and taking off into the forest. With myself blinded, I wasn't surprised to trip numerous times and run into a tree on occasion, but in my panic, I knew I had to find some source of water to clear my eyes and cool my burns. So I ran to the closest source of water, a river; one I could hear thanks to my improved hearing. Unfortunately for me, without my eyesight, I wasn't able to tell that the river was off the side of a steep hill and I slipped, tumbling down and hurting myself further before landing completely in the water.

Now, I never really liked swimming and being part-cat only made me like it even less. So I quickly scrambled out of the water, coughing and collapsing on the river bank. _I need to open my eyes._ I thought, knowing that I may even be permanently blinded after what I had just encountered, but hoping against hope that fate didn't hate me that much. Slowly, I opened them, but hissed in pain and quickly shut them again. _Not good. It hurts too much._ Tears pricked my eyes, but that hurt even more and I struggled not to full out sob at my pathetic situation. _I-I can't even ask for directions. I have no idea where I'm at, I'm hungry, I can't see, and I haven't the slightest clue how to survive out here. I'm going to die! That's just it! I-I'm going to starve to death or be killed because of these stupid ears!_ I hiccupped, laying my uninjured arm over my eyes and bit my bottom lip as I tried to pull myself together.

 _No, think. I-I may be weak, but I can't give up so soon. There has to be somewhere I can go._ I remembered the large expanse where the trees ended and decided that I'd head there in the hopes that maybe I would find a city or town. _But then what? I guess I'll have to find a way home, but… my appearance._ I let out a sigh, slowly checking myself with my uninjured hand to make sure I hadn't hurt myself too bad in my fall. Luckily, there was only bruises and scrapes, and I decided that I would use my ruined jacket to cover my ears for now but placed my hand on my tail in question. _What can I do with this?_ Begrudgingly, I took the new appendage and tried tucking it into the back of my pants, but it felt extremely uncomfortable. _Not like I have much of a choice though. Should I run into someone again… well…_

Once that was done, I yawned and decided that a good rest was in order since my day was about as stressful as it could get. I wasn't stupid though, and climbed up a tree—carefully—and slept up there to keep out of reach of most predators. _Who knows what kind of things are out here?_ My stomach growled then, and I curled up into a ball with a sniffle, shivering as a wind cut through the tree branches and my soggy clothing. _I can't believe this is happening to me._

* * *

The next morning, I got up with a sneeze which didn't bode well with me. I felt alright for now, but I knew it could be bad if I didn't find some dry clothes or some clothes more suited for the chilly nights. What I was more concerned about though, was trying to find a town with some people in it. Thing was, I had no idea what I was doing or where exactly I was going.

 _Grrr._

And I was still hungry. I tried to be smart and make a spear, but it was useless because I couldn't throw it accurately, nor could I throw it hard enough to pierce anything. _And the tip keeps falling off, but let's just not mention that._ My eyes weren't much better than the night before, so I just kept them closed and if I passed by a river or anything of that sort, I would make sure to wash them out. My arm was in similar condition and it burned terribly at times, but I had no way of seeing what kind of shape it was actually in. _As long as it doesn't get infected, I have nothing to really worry about… Though I hope it doesn't scar too bad… If at all._ For now though, I kept it wrapped up as best I could with a torn part of my jacket and hoped that would help.

 _Kind of hard to do any hunting though, with my eyesight gone._ I stumbled then, grumbling to myself as I got up and dusted myself off for the umpteenth time today. After a while of tiring walking, I paused for a break and frowned quietly at the ground as my stomach complained and I sneezed again. I knew I had to keep moving though, and soon got up and continued to walk despite my tired limbs. What I discovered though, gave me a bit of hope. I seemed to have stumbled across a path in my walking (judging by the change in sounds and by the smoothness of what I was walking on). That, gave me hope. It meant that if I followed this path, no matter what, I would most likely find some sort of civilization. Which meant people, which meant food and possible shelter. _As long as they don't find out what I really am, anyway._ I frowned at the thought, but continued walking down the path.

Hours passed with no sign of anything, and I began to grow weary. The heat had gotten worse the longer I went on and it was about noon now, so the sun was at its highest and so was the heat. I hadn't had any water since yesterday when I found the river, but I didn't want to risk losing the path, especially since my eyesight was as bad as it was. So I pushed on, sneezing or coughing on occasion, but not enough to cause me worry yet. As time wore on though, I could feel myself getting more tired and eventually came to a stop, using the last of my energy to climb up into a tree by the road and fell into a deep sleep.

Upon waking, I climbed back down and began moving again. I was sore from sleeping in the tree and from the long walk I just had, but if there was one thing I knew, it's that I was stubborn. I wouldn't give up once I started something and this was very important. I checked my eyesight again too, but there wasn't much improvement. I was beginning to give up hope and decided that I should get used to no eyesight because it may be a long lasting thing and I didn't want to get my hopes up if that was true. That's the other thing I was… pessimistic. Even in my hometown, I was this way and—though I had a few close friends—I was occasionally picked on by the guys thanks to my weak and shy appearance. I never told anyone this, of course. It was my issue to deal with and it wasn't something that I couldn't handle. A few pushes and shoves here, some torn up notebooks there. It was no big deal. Though, I suppose now isn't the best time to be reminiscing. There were voices heading this way.

I felt my stomach twist into knots, unsure about whether I should stick around or hide. My last encounter with someone hadn't been a good one and this sounded like there was more than one person, which meant I was outnumbered should something actually happen. I swallowed thickly, cringing at the scratchy feeling, and silently panicked. _What should I do?! I-I can't really talk to them. The last time I ran into someone I was attacked! W-What if they do the same?! I'll be outnumbered a-and might even die!_ I bit my bottom lip in worry as the voices grew closer. My ears twitched from underneath my torn jacket that I covered them with, discerning at least three if not four separate voices, and older ones at that. Worry gnawed at my insides and I quickly moved to hide up in a tree like a frightened animal. I tried to stay as still as possible; taking quiet shallow breaths as I silently wished these people wouldn't notice me.

"So you're going to be a jounin leader?"

"Seems like it."

"That's just like my rival! Ahaha!"

"I think you'll enjoy it."

I heard a sigh not yards in front of me on the path and crammed myself as close to the tree trunk as I could. _Please don't notice me. Please don't notice me._ The group continued to walk past and I heard their voices drift off, finally giving myself a chance to relax and sighing as I leaned my back up against the tree. I relaxed too soon though, because I suddenly felt my hair stand on end and quickly scrambled up in an attempt to run off the end of the branch, only for a hand to grab the back of my collar and lift me off the branch.

"L-Let me go!"

"Hm? It's just a kid." I heard the man say, feeling a slight rush of wind as he jumped out of the tree and dropped me haphazardly onto the dirt path.

I tried to quickly crawl away, but ran into a set of legs and quickly backed up only to run into another.

"Oh? And here I thought it'd be an assassin or something." Another man said, before a woman spoke up.

"You guys are scaring him."

"She is right!" A man shouted, making me cringe back in fear as I tried to listen for an escape from their circle around me. "We shouldn't frighten a child!"

Guessing their positions around me, I suddenly got up and tried to make a break for it where there was a small gap, hoping I had caught them off guard enough to get away. I was quickly tossed back into the circle though and winced as my injured arm hit the ground.

"You don't need to be so rough with him, Kakashi." The woman said.

"He could be an enemy." This _Kakashi_ replied.

Sensing that tension that I had felt from the man who had attacked me before, I quickly panicked and curled up in a ball, covering my head with my arms and shaking in fear.

"P-P-Please don't hurt me."

"Then tell us who hired you."

I shook my head. "No one. H-Honest!"

"Then why were you hiding?" The mellower of the other guys said.

"I-I… just don't want you to hurt me." I said quietly, hearing one of them move and curling up further. "Please."

"Why should we believe that?" The Kakashi man said, voice sharp. "Look at us and tell us the truth."

"I-It's the truth!"

"Look at us!"

I flinched at his harsh tone and said nothing, knowing that if I told him I couldn't look at them that he'd probably get angry. I heard the sharp sound of metal and tensed, not liking the sound and what it implied.

"Hold on, Kakashi." The woman said. "Let me try."

There was a moment of silence before I heard a sigh and a hand suddenly touched my shoulder, making me stiffen once more.

"We're not going to hurt you, but I need you to tell me if someone made you do this."

I shook my head.

"Please? We can help."

At the word 'help', I felt myself relax a bit, though I was still a little tense. "H-Help?"

"Mhmm. So could you look at us and tell us what happened?"

I hesitantly shook my head again, setting off the loud one of the group.

"We can save you from the bad guy most youthfully!"

"Guy!" The woman scolded as I flinched, before getting soft once more. "Why can't you tell us?"

I shook my head again, but spoke this time. "I-I can't tell you, because no one h-hired me. I don't know what you're t-talking about. I don't even know w-where I am o-or how I got here a-a-and—"

I was cut off by a series of coughs, suddenly feeling as though my body weighed more than it should. I felt something cold touch my forehead and flinched back at the feeling, burying my head once more.

"He has a fever." The woman muttered. "We should take him with us."

I grew even more worried at that and quickly decided that I had behaved enough with this group of strangers and needed to get out of here before they hurt me or worse. In one swift movement, I took a gamble. I jumped up and over the loud man's shoulder, pushing off with my hands and jumping as far away as I could before jumping up into the trees lining the road. I managed to get on a thick branch by pure luck, seeing as I hit my head on another and got scratched across the face by a particularly sharp one, but before I could get anywhere, I was grabbed out of the tree and shoved back on the ground face-first. Said person thrust their knee into my spine to hold me there and pinned my arms behind my back while holding something sharp against my throat as I let out a sharp cry of pain.

"Ah! No! L-Let me go! I-I'm s-s-sorry! Please!"

"Who do you work for?!" Kakashi shouted, sternly.

"No one! P-Please don't hurt me! I-I'm sorry!"

"Then tell me who you work for!"

He tightened his grip on my arm, twisting it back more as I began to cry, the pain becoming too much.

"N-No one! Please s-stop! I-I-It hurts!"

His grip slackened and I heard footsteps hurrying over as I tugged my arms free and began wiping at my eyes, still crying, but doing my best to stop since my eyes were burning.

"I-It hurts. It hurts. I-I'm sorry. Sorry. D-Don't burn me. I'm sorry."

"Kakashi! That's enough! Can't you see he's not a threat?!" The woman shouted as Kakashi's knee disappeared from off my back and strong, but gentle arms tugged lightly at my hands.

"Let me see." The mellow man said and I stubbornly refused.

"N-No. I-It hurts."

"That's why I want to see… Please."

I felt that he was someone who wouldn't hurt me for some reason. He wasn't overly cautious like Kakashi was and he wasn't loud like the other man. He and the woman seemed like people I could trust, if only a little. Hesitantly, I lowered my hands and moved my head a bit to where I had heard his voice coming from. A couple of fingers lightly pressed around my eyes before he asked the question I was worried about.

"Can you open them?"

I was nervous, remembering the pain from the last few times I did, but thought I might as well try. I didn't manage to open them long before I let out a hiss of pain and brought my hands up once more, only for him to pull them away.

"Don't rub them. That will only make it worse."

"B-But it hurts." I whined, sounding like a child, but that's what I was and controlling my emotions in this smaller body seemed a lot harder than I wanted it to be.

"I know… Can you tell me how this happened?"

I tensed, knowing that I couldn't tell them the truth. _I can't tell them about my ears and tail! T-They'll probably hurt me like the other man did! O-Oh man… B-But I don't want to lie. They'll just get suspicious._

"It's okay, you know." The man said and I could hear the smile in his voice as he placed a hand on my head. "I just want to help you."

I slowly nodded. "I-I, um, don't know how I got here a-and went to find someone to ask directions to the nearest town. I saw smoke and followed it t-to a camp and the man… a-a-attacked me with a torch from his fire."

"That is most un-youthful!" The loud man shouted, before I heard a smack from someone probably hitting him.

I reached over and touched my arm with a wince and felt the man in front of me reach over and touch my hand lightly.

"Can I see?"

I nodded and began pulling off the dirty cloth, wincing as I got to the last layer and the cloth stuck to my wound before finally coming off. Although it really hurt, I kept my tears back for fear they'd hurt my eyes and waited as this man held my wrist and stretched my arm out, looking over my wound most likely. After a moment, I heard a sigh come from him.

"It looks like it might be getting infected. That's probably what's causing your fever. And you don't know how you got here?"

I shook my head, tensing as I heard him ruffling through something and hearing that clang of metal again.

"It's alright. I'm just getting some bandages. For your arm."

I relaxed a bit and sneezed, using my free arm to rub my nose as he wrapped my arm. I felt a lot calmer now that I knew they weren't going to hurt me and thought that maybe I should ask some questions too.

"D-Do you, um… Could you tell me where I am?"

"I don't see why not." He said. "You're in the Fire Country. Maybe a mile away from the Hidden Leaf Village."

I frown in confusion, not really liking what I was hearing. "Fire Country?"

"That's right. Where are you from?"

I scrunched up my brows, not really sure what to say. _I mean, I don't have the slightest clue what this Fire Country is or where it would be located. And I don't really… I don't think I'm in the same place as where I used to live. I can't explain it but… nothing these people have done is anything like what I'm used to back home. And I've never heard of anywhere where people attack others for possibly being assassins. Let alone a nine year old kid like me… well… like the me_ now _._

"It's okay if you don't remember. I won't force you to."

 _I guess that'll work. Pretending I have amnesia._ "I, um… don't remember. S-Sorry."

"That's alright." I heard the woman say, her having approached me sometime during my musing, I guess. "Do you know your name at least?"

I nodded, feeling that the man had finished wrapping my arm and tilting my head towards my hands that now rested in my lap. "I-It's Takeru Kobayashi… I think." _Which is true. Perhaps that can help them find me a way home. Though I would like my old body back._

"Well, Takeru, I'm Asuma Sarutobi and this… Ah…" He seemed a little lost and I realized that he didn't know how to introduce me to the others since I couldn't see.

"You can, um, introduce yourselves." I said quietly, lifting my head. "I-I can recognize your different voices pretty good."

"Well then, youthful child, I am the ultimate Might Guy!"

I flinched at his loud voice, but nodded as the woman spoke.

"I'm Kurenai Yuuhi."

"…I'm Kakashi Hatake." The other man spoke up, albeit hesitantly.

I felt a bit bad for him. I'm sure he didn't mean to, well, attack me the way he did without a pretty good reason and, there was something about him that made me feel like there was something wrong. It was his voice, I guess. There was that tinge of sorrow to it, even before the group found me and he was speaking. Maybe it was my new ears playing tricks on me, but then again, maybe not. _Only time will tell, although…_

"U-Um, what's going to happen to me now? Are you going to let me go?"

"Not quite." Asuma said, though his tone was light so I didn't worry just yet. "You're obviously sick and hurt, and pretty young too. And with you being by yourself out here, I don't think it would be wise to just leave you."

"So… you're taking me with you?"

"That's right. We'll take you back to our village and get you checked out by a doctor, then we'll bring you to the Hokage to see what he wants to do about maybe finding your family."

"But… what if he can't find them?" I asked, not wanting to get my hopes up too soon, though the word 'Hokage' had me a bit lost. _Someone like a mayor, maybe?_

"Then perhaps he'll let you stay in our village. Who knows?" I heard him moving and brushing himself off. "Is it alright if I carry you?"

I nodded, feeling a bit childish anyway, and reached out my arms to let him lift me. It was _odd_ to say the least, being picked up so easily and carried around, but I didn't mind and yawned tiredly as the group walked; me piggybacking on Asuma.

"You can sleep if you want." Asuma said as I rested my chin on his shoulder. "It'll still take a bit to get to Konoha."

"Is that your village?" I muttered.

"Sure is."

"Is it big?"

He chuckled a bit. "I'd say so."

"Mm." I hummed, before turning my head a little. "Kakashi?"

Said man sounded surprised that I spoke to him. "Uh, y-yeah?"

"I'm sorry for scaring you."

"You, uh… didn't scare me." He said, while the others in the group chuckled. "You just… surprised me, is all. And… I apologize as well. For hurting you."

I yawned again, nodding. "…Kakashi?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you sound so sad?"

There was silence in the group and I felt as though I might have said something I shouldn't have and quickly muttered an apology.

"S-Sorry… I just… don't want you to be sad."

He didn't say anything and neither did anyone else, so I stayed silent as well and felt myself relax before slowly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"Takeru."

I scrunched up my nose, shifting and turning my head the other way, hugging the thing in my arms tighter.

"Takeru, you need to wake up."

"I dun wanna." I grumbled, tucking my nose closer to something.

"But Takeru, you need to let the doctor look at you."

I frowned, not appreciating the disturbance of my nap, but loosened my arms and allowing Asuma to move me from his back to a cold table that sent shivers up my spine. I did good not to complain though, and sat there quietly, though very frustrated.

"Is it okay if I take this off?" The lady asked, touching my injured arm lightly.

"Fine."

She chuckled nervously, obviously not expecting my rotten attitude, but you wouldn't be happy either, if you were woken up while you were sick, sore and tired. She removed the bandages and I felt something odd happen. I couldn't see, so I didn't know what was going on, but it felt like something warm was traveling up my arm, soothing it. I relaxed unconsciously, head turned so I would be looking at my arm (if I could see), and waited until the sensation went away.

"It looks like it will scar, unfortunately." The nurse said. "Perhaps if it had been treated right away, then it wouldn't have, but the infection ended up making it so that it did scar."

I was a little upset, but was more worried about my eyes, pointing up at them. "What about my eyes?"

"Well, let's see." She said cheerfully, before I felt that same warm sensation being passed through my eyes and head. "Hm, they're a little damaged, but they should be as good as new in a minute here. There. Try opening your eyes now."

The warmth went away and I hesitantly opened my eyes, blinking a few times to clear the blurriness, but getting excited now that I could actually _see._ I looked at the nurse, a brunet haired woman with dark eyes, before turning to look back at Asuma. He wasn't what I expected, but when he smiled, I knew it was the same person I had been talking to before.

"How is it, kiddo?"

I couldn't help the grin that appeared on my face as I closed my eyes. "I can see you, Asuma!"

He chuckled, coming over and ruffling my hair, before I sneezed. The nurse chuckled then too, with a roll of her eyes.

"I better fix that cold of yours too."

I watched carefully this time, as her hands glowed green and she placed them on my head, making my mouth drop open in shock. _S-She's glowing! A-And it's healing me! I mean, I was suspicious at how quickly she healed me and everything, but this is so weird! Why isn't Asuma saying anything? Is it something normal here? But I've never heard about anything like this where I come from! What's going on?!_ Quickly hoping to get some answers, I pointed at the nurse's hand after she lowered it.

"What was that?" I asked, innocently, though my mind was all over the place.

Asuma blinked in confusion. "You don't know what chakra is?"

I shook my head as the nurse bowed and left. "No. Is it magic?"

"Uh, not quite." He said, when I suddenly had a curious urge to ask something.

"Where's Kakashi and Guy and Ku… Kure…"

"Kurenai?"

I frowned at him as he picked me up and helped me off the table, letting me walk.

"I was getting there!"

He smiled, leading us out of the hospital. "They're going to meet us at the Hokage's office."

"Oh… What's a Hokage?"

"He's the leader of the village and the most powerful shinobi."

 _Did he just say… shinobi? Like a ninja?! Now I'm really confused._ I frowned down at the ground for a moment before I felt myself suddenly being lifted up and put atop Asuma's shoulders, sending me into a panic.

"W-Wait! What are you doing?!" I shouted, hanging onto his spiky black hair for fear of falling off.

"H-Hey! Not so tight!"

"Sorry!" I said, quickly letting go, but feeling off balance and wrapping my arms around his head instead, making him laugh.

"I just thought you'd like a better view, Takeru."

I hesitantly lifted up my head and looked around eagerly, mouth hanging open. "Wow! It's huge!"

As we walked to this Hokage office that Asuma mentioned, I kept pointing out different things and asking Asuma what they were. He told me about the Hokage monument and how it was a tribute to the Hokages of the past, about the ninja running on the roofs, about the best food places in town and he even bought me a hat to replace the torn up jacket on my head. It was a simple blue trapper hat with white-gray fur that was a little run down, but it was something I was extremely grateful for and quickly put it on before he could see my ears hidden away. Now though, I was beginning to get nervous.

We had been walking up the stairs to the Hokage's office (Asuma having let me walk on my own for a while) and I felt like I was going to screw up somehow. It was nerve-racking, knowing that the man I was going to meet could kill me in a moment. Not only that, but he decides my fate the moment he figures me out. _And if he finds out what I'm hiding, who's to say he won't kick me out? Or kill me, even? Oh… now I'm worried…_ Asuma must have sensed my nervousness and ruffled my hair a bit.

"Don't worry, Takeru. You'll be fine."

 _Doubt it…_ He knocked on the wooden door in front of us and a voice called us in from the other side, making Asuma open the door and lead me in. The room was simple enough, with bookshelves full of books and scrolls (odd in my home, but it must be normal here) and a large desk at the front, where an older man sat. Looking around, I spotted three others standing there and assumed that they must be Kakashi, Kurenai, and Guy. Kurenai was easy to pick out, being the only woman, and I must say, I wasn't disappointed. _She's pretty…_ My childish mind supplied, before I looked at the other two. One was sporting a large smile and gave me a thumbs-up, making me assume that he was the Might Guy from before. _The loud one. Which makes the last one… Kakashi._ Kakashi stood there looking bored almost, white silvery hair standing up in a way I questioned was possible, and the only part of his face showing was his right eye. I found it a little odd, but not too weird or anything.

"Ahem."

I flinched, turning my head away from the group that Asuma joined, and looking over at the older man who just _radiated_ authority. Swallowing thickly, I wrung my hands together in front of me and nervously stared at the floor, knowing better than to look a head of authority in the eyes.

"S-Sorry." I said, softly.

"This is the child?"

"Yes, sir." Asuma replied, scratching the back of his head. "We found him hurt and sick not a mile from here. We decided to bring him to you to see about what to do. He has amnesia."

"And you just _found_ him?"

"He was hiding up in a tree." Kakashi replied. "We thought he was an assassin or spy of some sort. He is very adept at hiding his chakra signature."

 _I have chakra?_ I shoved the thought aside, feeling eyes on me.

"Is that so… What is your name?"

Knowing he was speaking to me, I hesitantly stuttered it out. "T-Takeru Kobayashi, sir…"

I snuck a glance at him to see him staring at me oddly. _Like he's surprised almost._ Needless to say, I quickly looked back down.

"Takeru, is it? Well then, what do you remember, Takeru? And there's no need to be so nervous. I won't bite."

I was still worried, but lifted my head and looked—not eye to eye with him, but eye to mouth.

"I, um… only remember w-waking up in a forest. T-That was… two days ago, I think."

"Nothing before that?"

I shook my head.

"And your name is all you remember…"

"Yes."

"Hm." The man leaned forward, resting his interlocked fingers over his mouth and his elbows on his desk.

 _It's like he's trying to_ make _me look at his eyes by hiding his mouth. Makes me nervous, but… I can't be afraid forever… Right?_ I looked up to meet his eyes and found myself curious once more, my curiosity overcoming my fear for now.

"Do you ever get tired of paperwork? You have a lot, right? It's gotta suck filling out all those boring forms… What do you do for fun?" I looked around the room quickly. "Do you read? You have a lot of books for an old guy."

When I looked back, I realized what I had done and quickly took a step back in worry as I apologized.

"S-Sorry."

The Hokage though, who had looked surprised, suddenly let out a chuckle; easing up the tension in the room. "You're a curious one, aren't you?"

Asuma chuckled as well. "You should've seen him on the way here. He won't stop once he gets going."

"S-S-Sorry!" I said, bowing lowly, but the Hokage's chuckle had me standing back upright soon enough.

"It's fine. You remind me of another young boy about your age. Though he has no manners at all."

 _That's because I'm actually fifteen, so I know better… but this child body is letting my emotions and curiosity run wild… Puberty's going to suck…_ I frowned a bit, before I realized that I was being watched and turned a beet red as the Hokage smiled.

"And a thinker too… Now how about we get down to business. Do you remember at all where you lived?"

I bit my bottom lip, thinking, when I came up with an idea that would either bring me hope, or crush everything I've ever known.

"C-Could I see a map?"

"Of course." The Hokage smiled, before reaching into his desk and pulling out a scroll, lying it over his paper work and encouraging me to come forward.

Problem was, when I looked at the map, my heart broke into a million pieces. _I don't recognize this at all. This… This isn't my home world. I've never heard of any of these places! B-B-But that means… I-I can't get home, can I?_ Something fell onto the map, darkening a spot, before the paper was rolled up and I began wiping frantically at my eyes, sniffling as quietly as I could.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry." I cried, desperately trying to wipe at my face and make the tears stop.

"It quite alright." The Hokage reassured, a hand resting on my head comfortingly. "Could you tell me what's wrong?"

I wasn't sure what to tell him. I had no idea if getting back to my world was even possible, but I knew for sure that I wouldn't find my family here. So I said the only thing I could think of.

"I-I remembered." I lied, though it wasn't a complete lie. "My p-p-parents… they're… I-I think they're d-dead."

I continued to scrub frantically at my face, begging my tears to stop, but what I had said was basically the truth. I was here in this world and they were back in mine. I had no way to get to my parents or friends or anything so, in a way, they _were_ dead. They were gone and I wouldn't be able to see them again.

"S-Sorry." I apologized again, but the Hokage shook his head.

"It's alright." He said softly, sitting back in his seat as I controlled my tears the best I could. "Due to your situation though, how would you like it if I had you living here, in Konoha?"

"H-Here?"

He nodded, giving me a reassuring smile. "The boy I mentioned before, he's also in a similar situation as you, but he's living here peacefully and I'm sure he'd like a friend. That is, if you're willing to stay."

I was hesitant, but where else would I go? I didn't know anyone here other than Asuma, Kakashi, Guy, and Kurenai and now the Hokage as well. There wasn't really a downside to this, but I _was_ curious about one thing.

"W-Would I have to become a s-shinobi?"

"You wouldn't _have_ to, but from what Kakashi told me about your hiding skills, it would be nice if you did. The boy, Naruto, is working on becoming one as well."

I nodded. "I-I will, but… who will I live with?"

"I was thinking that you could either live with Naruto in his apartment, or I could let you live alone next door to him. Would that be okay?"

I looked back at Asuma and the others, before turning back to the Hokage. "C-Can I see Asuma and Kakashi and Guy and Kurenai too?"

He chuckled. "Whenever you want."

I felt a grin threatening to break out on my face, but held it back, letting only a small smile show as I bowed my head. "T-Then I will accept y-your offer, Hokage… um… sir."

"Very well then. I'll get the paperwork done right away and you can start going to the academy tomorrow, but I think a bit of an introduction is needed. Asuma, you and the others are free to go. Make sure you turn in your mission report to the desk downstairs."

"Of course, Hokage." He said, sending me a small wave with the others before they all left, making me a little nervous once more.

"Um, what am _I_ supposed to do?"

The Hokage stood, walking towards me and smiling. " _You_ , Takeru, are going to come with me so I can introduce you to Naruto since he's just getting out of class now. And perhaps, I can convince him to show you around the village."

My eyes lit up in excitement and curiosity. "Really?!"

He chuckled. "Of course. Now come on. We don't want to be late."

I nodded and hurried after him, hardly able to contain my excitement at meeting someone new. Though my mind threw in some doubts. The biggest one being… _I hope he's not entirely stupid…_ As we walked to this academy the Hokage mentioned though, I realized something and looked up at the Hokage with a frown.

"Something wrong?"

I nodded. "You never answered my questions."

He chuckled, good-heartedly. "I suppose I didn't, did I? …Being Hokage _is_ a tough job with a lot of paperwork. And there are occasions where even _I_ need a break and I usually talk a nice walk through the village."

"And what were all those books for? Research stuff?"

He nodded. "Some of them. I enjoy reading sometimes too, so a few of them aren't. Do you like reading, Takeru?"

I nodded excitedly. "Uh-huh! You learn lots of things from reading books! They smell good too."

He raised a brow at that, but it was true! That smell when you open up a book—be it brand new or old—was amazing. It was a shame that the generation I was from in my old world was all about technology. It was harder and harder to find actual text. Let alone some of the older things like Shakespeare, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, and Edgar Allen Poe. _I wonder if they have authors like that here…_

"Neh, is being a ninja hard?"

"I suppose to some it is. Each person is different."

"Mm… What do I get to learn at the academy?"

"All the basics. Math, science, language, that sort of thing."

"I like Math!"

He looked down at me in surprise. "Do you?"

I nodded, looking around as the number of people around us grew. _We must be getting close to the academy…_

"Yup. Math doesn't change no matter where you go or what language and there's only one answer. It's not like languages where it has many different meanings or where it changes depending on where you're from."

"That's… an interesting way to think about it. You're very smart, Takeru."

I shook my head. "Nu-uh. There's _lots_ of smarter people. I just like Math."

He chuckled. "I see. Ah! Here we are."

I looked around at all the parents picking up their children, feeling a bit sad since I technically no longer had parents, but the Hokage rested a heavy hand on my head to comfort me.

"Come on. I'll introduce you to Naruto."

We walked a ways into the school yard, past the parents and students, before I found us heading towards a single boy sitting on a swing. He was scuffing his feet in the dirt and looked pretty sad as he watched the kids playing or leaving, but when the Hokage called out to him, he instantly cheered up and hurried over excitedly.

"Hey, old man! What are you doing here?"

I looked up at the Hokage, unsure how he felt about this Naruto just running up and calling him an old man, but he seemed okay with it and besides, I _did_ call him that too. The people around us though were sending Naruto looks that had me worried. _They don't seem to like him… I wonder why? He seems nice enough to me, though a bit rude, but he's a kid so there's no harm done._ The Hokage smiled then and knelt down to Naruto's level, ruffling his hair.

"Naruto, I'm here because there's someone I'd like to introduce to you."

The Hokage turned to me and I flushed a bit in nervousness, shifting behind him a bit. _W-What if he doesn't like me? I mean, I know I shouldn't be overly concerned or anything, but… for some reason, making friends always makes me nervous…_

"U-Um… h-hi?" I stuttered out, not really sure what else to do.

"Oh?" The Hokage said in slight amusement. "What happened to that excitement from before?"

I felt the heat in my face grow. "T-That was different! I-I'm… scared of… people…"

"What?" Naruto said, tilting his head with an odd pouting expression. "How could you be scared of people? There's people everywhere!"

I remembered the man from before who attacked me and took a small step back, suddenly worried. _People are scary… Even in my world, people were scary. What they did to one another, how they treated each other… it was disgusting and sad and… frightening._

"Now, Naruto." The Hokage said, sensing my sudden nervousness. "Takeru here has had a rough time and he doesn't have any family, okay? He's new to the village and I was hoping you'd be able to give him a tour and become his friend. He's a bit shy, as you can see, but once he warms up to you… well, let's just say I think you and him will really get along."

"I'm right here…" I muttered, pouting a bit, making the Hokage chuckle, before pushing me out in front of him, thus in front of Naruto; who scratched his cheek.

"Well, I guess I could be his friend… but you can't be shy all the time, okay?" He said, thrusting his hand out with a grin. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! It's nice to meet you!"

I took it hesitantly. "T-Takeru Kobayashi. It's nice to meet you too."

"Alright!" He said loudly, before turning to the Hokage. "Neh, old man! If I'm taking him on a tour of the village, we're going to have to eat sometime! So do you have any cash?!"

"N-Naruto!" I said, surprised at his blunt rudeness to the most _powerful_ shinobi in the village.

"What?" He said, giving me a frustrated look.

The Hokage chuckled though, reaching into his cloak and pulling out a wallet, handing me some money. "It's alright, Takeru. Here's some money for you and Naruto to get something to eat and get a new outfit. I'm sure you're hungry after what you've just gone through, and you look like you could use some new clothes."

My stomach took that moment to let out a long growl, embarrassing me further, and I took the offered money with my head bowed to hide my red face.

"T-Thank you, sir."

He nodded, standing up and smiling down at us. "I'll have you living with Naruto for now, but you can let me know if you want your own space. I'll give you enough money for the both of you for groceries later, but once you two become ninjas, you'll be responsible for your own rent and such. Is that alright, Naruto?"

He nodded with a grin, looking genuinely happy. "Sounds great! Now let's go, Takeru! There's a lot of stuff I have to show you before the sun goes down!"

"Ah! A-Alright, Naruto!" I called out as he pulled me along by my hand. "S-Slow down!"

Behind us, I could hear the Hokage chuckling, but after a while, I didn't care anymore. It felt nice to have a friend already and, I didn't think I could handle being alone so quickly after everything that's happened. _Though I'm not so sure about this ninja thing… I-I… don't know if I_ can _be one, but I might as well try._


	2. Touring and schooling

The tour Naruto took me on was… fun. I didn't expect there to be so many places in Konoha and Naruto was definitely an expert at where the best food places were. I noticed though, that a lot of people looked at him weird. Like he was diseased or something. It made me nervous sometimes, their looks being awfully similar to the look that the man who attacked me had, but I did my best to ignore them and grew pretty comfortable around Naruto. I _did_ surprise him though when I began asking a lot of questions about different things, but he was nice enough to answer them as best he could. We even bought a few things on our way.

I got new black pants that went down to just past my knees and some black ninja sandals as well as a simple grey shirt, but Naruto wanted me to get something with a little more color, so I also got a dark violet jacket to replace my ruined one. It was a size or two too big, but I didn't mind and actually found it quite comfy even if the sleeves _did_ go down past my knuckles. _So warm…_ I mused, holding my covered hands up to my face and inhaling the scent of new clothes, until I heard Naruto chuckling beside me.

"You're pretty excited over some boring new clothes, Takeru."

I flushed a bit. "T-They're not boring! …They're… nice."

He grinned, putting his hands behind his head. "So, where did you come from, Takeru? The old man said you weren't from here."

I looked down sorrowfully, not liking to lie, but knowing that I had no other choice. "I-I don't remember. I lost my memories."

"Oh." We grew quiet, before he lowered his hands and turned to me with a bright grin. "That's okay! I'm sure you'll remember some things soon!"

I nodded with a small smile, when my stomach suddenly growled loudly. "A-Ah! S-S-Sorry."

He blinked in surprise, looking at me with wide eyes, before pointing at me. "Was that your _stomach_?"

I blushed. "I-I haven't eaten… for a while…"

"That was super loud though! You must be really hungry!"

"A bit…"

"Then I'll bring you to the best place ever!" He grabbed my hand then, dragging me behind him until we reached a small ramen stand and he climbed up onto a chair, catching the owner's attention. "Two pork ramen, extra large!"

"Oh! Naruto! Always good to see you." The man behind the counter said with a cheerful grin, before spotting me as I climbed up onto a stool beside an excited Naruto. "And you brought a friend this time, eh?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah! This is Takeru! Old man Hokage says he's going to be living with me! He's super shy though, but he talks a lot too, sometimes."

The man set the two hot bowls of ramen before us and I could feel myself beginning to drool before I snapped apart my chopsticks and dug in. The moment the noodles hit my tongue, my eating became even more frantic. _It's so good!_

"You must have been hungry." The man said, making me pause in my eating to slowly nod, swallowing and going to speak.

"Is it hard making ramen? Where do you get all the ingredients? Is this the only shop you have? A-Ah! I-I mean…" I bowed my head, embarrassed. "It's really good… the ramen."

He laughed, making me turn a nice red shade as I went back to eating. "I see what you mean, Naruto. And I suppose it's hard at first, Takeru, to make ramen. Some of the recipes are complicated. I usually get the ingredients from stores around town here though, but I do grow some of the herbs and spices myself. This _is_ my only shop, however. And I've yet to hear of one better."

I nodded, finishing off my food. "T-Thank you for answering my questions and… for the food."

"Of course! A friend of Naruto's is always welcome here."

Naruto looked over at me with a grin, before he realized something and climbed down off his stool.

"We should probably go, Takeru. It's getting late."

I hopped off the stool after him as he waved goodbye to the owner and we began heading to my new home. Needless to say, I was a bit… surprised when Naruto opened the door to his apartment to reveal just how messy it was. He chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"S-Sorry about the mess." He then began running around and picking up trash from off the floor and, not wanting to be rude or anything, I picked up his laundry and put it away.

"Ah! You don't have to do that!" He said suddenly, grabbing a pair of his boxers I had picked up and smiling awkwardly.

"But, I should help, shouldn't I?"

"I guess, if you want to… b-but don't do the laundry!" He said frantically, though I hadn't the slightest clue why he was acting so nervous.

 _We're both guys, after all._ I looked around though, and spotted the gross looking kitchen area and decided that I could at least clear that up. Before I realized it, Naruto had fallen asleep at the kitchen table and I had finished the dishes. Knowing that I couldn't leave him there, I shook his shoulder.

"Naruto? You need to go to your bed if you're going to sleep."

He woke up, though not completely, and grumbled a bit as he rubbed his eyes, heading into his room and changing before falling into his bed fast asleep. Once he was out, I looked around the room and let out a soft sigh before grabbing some blankets from the closet and stripping down to my boxers and a pajama shirt I had also bought at the store while we were out. It hung off my shoulder a bit, but I didn't mind. I was more concerned about my ears and tail. _I really don't want Naruto to see them, but… I don't want to ruin the hat Asuma got me and it was uncomfortable enough hiding my tail in my pants for two days like that._ Reluctantly, I decided to set my worries aside for now and just made myself comfortable on the couch before slipping off into a light sleep.

* * *

I felt something poking me and let out a quiet mumble, curling into the blankets a bit more. The poking stopped and I relaxed, but then I felt something lightly tugging on my ear and I frowned, waving my hand and trying to swat whoever it was away half-heartedly. It was then, that I heard a familiar voice.

"Um, Takeru?"

I groaned, rolling away and curling up a bit more. "Go 'way… lemme sleep…"

I felt that tugging on my ear again and frowned more as Naruto spoke.

"Are these real?"

My eyes snapped open at that, realizing what he had just said, and I jumped up out of the bed I was in and onto the top of a cabinet, tail thrashing wildly behind me as I panicked. Naruto, though, was just staring at me with his mouth gaping open from where he had fallen back on the floor.

"W-Whoa."

"A-Are you going to h-hurt me?" I questioned, scared.

He blinked, getting up and shaking his head. "No way! I wouldn't hurt you, Takeru! I think it's cool!"

Now I was confused. "Cool?"

He nodded, a big grin on his face. "Yeah! You're like… a cat, right? That's super cool! Can you jump super high? Do you have claws?"

 _He's not… afraid?_ I hesitantly climbed down off of the cabinet and shook my head, not really sure what to do about Naruto's enthusiasm.

"U-Um… I guess I can jump pretty h-high, b-b-but I don't think I have claws o-or anything… You're… not afraid of me?"

He shook his head, stepping forward and making me flinch, only for him to gently pinch one of my ears between his fingers curiously. "Why would I be afraid? It's not like you're going to hurt me or anything. We're friends, right?"

My chest warmed at that and I nodded. "B-But you can't tell anyone! I-I… I don't want people to know."

I brushed a hand over my burn scar, catching his attention as his face fell.

"Is that why you have that scar?"

I nodded slowly, not saying anything, before Naruto put a hand on his hip and saluted me with his other.

"Well, you can count on me! I won't tell anybody!"

I gave him a small smile. "T-Thank you, Naruto." It was then that I noticed that I wasn't in the living room like I had been last night; I was in Naruto's room. "Um, h-how did I get in here?"

Naruto tilted his head, pulling on some pants. "Hm? Oh, I think you came in here sometime last night. It's all kind of fuzzy though, heh."

I had a flash of yellow spark in my mind and I flinched, realizing what had happened. _I had a nightmare last night about what happened a few days ago and… I guess I couldn't sleep alone and climbed in with Naruto._

"Oi, Takeru!"

"Huh?"

"We're going to be late if you don't hurry up and get dressed!"

I blinked, before remembering that today was going to be my first day at the academy. "O-Oh!"

I hurried out of his room and back into the living room, gathering my clothes and quickly putting them on before borrowing Naruto's bathroom, having to rush out the door behind him. Once we arrived at the academy, I became extremely nervous.

You see, I had moved cities once, when I was younger, so I knew how hard it was to go and make new friends and fit in with everyone in school, especially when they already had their friend groups and such. _I don't care if I'm mentally fifteen, I've seen some_ really _bad kids and I'd rather not have to go through getting bullied again._ I shuffled in behind Naruto, watching as he waved and headed up to a desk, whereas I was stuck standing in front of the class waiting for the teacher. Already, I could hear the whispers.

" _Who's that?"_

" _Dunno. He looks weak, to me."_

" _Isn't he a little cute?"_

" _Aw, he's shy."_

" _Bet you I can beat him in taijutsu before he even throws a punch."_

" _Nah, I'd lose that bet."_

"Alright, class! Settle down!" The teacher walked in then, looking down at me and giving me a smile. "And you must be the new student the Hokage told me about. Takeru, right?"

I hesitantly nodded, eyeing the scar lying across the man's nose and the way his brown hair was tied up in a spiky ponytail, but seeing the kindness in his eyes. _He looks like… a nice guy…_ He turned towards the class then, placing a hand on my shoulder and calling out to the chattering students.

"Class, this is Takeru Kobayashi. He's a new student starting today, so he's a little shy. Be sure to treat him nicely, alright?"

"Yes, Iruka-sensei!" They chorused, and Iruka leaned down to me.

"Go ahead and sit wherever you want, Takeru, and be sure to come to me after class if there's anything you don't understand, okay?"

I nodded again, earning a smile from the teacher before he lightly pushed me towards the rows of desks so I could sit. I obviously stuck myself next to Naruto, who grinned excitedly, before Iruka started the class.

"Okay, students, today we'll be learning about some ninja tactics and formations that you will need to know for when you graduate."

There were various groans coming from different students in the classroom as Iruka handed out a worksheet. Oddly enough, the information on it seemed pretty basic to me. _This all looks like chess moves almost._ I thought, looking over the pictures and seeing how this could be used in a practical situation. The rest of the class went on similar to this. A lot of the general studies that we did, I got through quickly and the ninja tactics were pretty easy to figure out. It was the multitude of hand seals that I was having trouble with, my thicker fingers not wanting to make some of the formations. Naruto helped me a little with those, as did Iruka, but after a while the class moved on to more physical activities.

We worked with this chakra stuff that the Hokage had mentioned before, using it to hold a leaf to our foreheads. It was difficult, at first, for me to get the hang of reaching inside myself and grabbing a hold of that inner energy. It was like trying to grab a hold of a fish and hang onto it underwater while it was trying to swim away. After a while, I got the hang of it, but then we moved on to taijutsu. Now, I had no idea what this taijutsu was, but Iruka showed me the basics and set me up with a student once I'd basically figured it out. Thankfully, I was paired up with another meek looking student, a girl by the name of Hinata.

I found it odd that her eyes were such a light shade, but she stuttered worse than I did and I decided that I wouldn't let my curiosity get carried away by digging my nose into her business. She was nice though and helped me through the basics when I messed up, fixing my form when needed. Iruka came by later though, and said that tomorrow I would be matched up with one of the other students since I seemed to be getting the hang of it. When we moved on to weapon training though, I found that I was extremely poor at it. The wooden kunai and shuriken felt weird in my hands and it was hard throwing them accurately. Out of the ten I had, not a single one hit the target, though four did hit the stump that the target was on and I was happy just because of that. Thankfully, after all that work, we were finally sent on lunch break. There were a few problems with that though.

For one thing, I didn't bring any lunch, so I had nothing to eat. The other problem was, Naruto was stuck cleaning up the blackboard after he put some sort of paint bomb in Iruka's desk and it blew up all over it. This meant that I was on my own for lunch and the moment I walked out of the building and onto the grounds where everyone was at, I felt like a sheep being led out to slaughter. A group of girls were eyeing me from off under a tree, whispering to one another and not far from them was a group of boys throwing wooden shuriken at one another, playing a game. Then there were the other various groups scattered around, one of which approached me. Thing was, this group didn't look very welcoming.

"Hey look. It's the shy little weakling." One of the kids said, brown hair spiked up with a red cloth tied around his forehead, most likely the leader of the group.

"Heh, no kidding. What? No lunch, wuss?" The kid beside him said, grinning widely and showing off his missing tooth.

"Aw, poor baby has no lunch?" The third kid said, dark blue hair tied in a low ponytail.

 _First day and I'm already being bullied, though something tells me that this is going to be a lot different from the bullying I got in my world. Though perhaps, I can avoid it._ Taking a chance, I turned away from the kids and began walking away, hoping that by ignoring them, they'd get bored and leave. Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky.

"Hey! We're talking to you!" The kid with the missing tooth shouted, grabbing my shoulder and turning me back around to face them.

"You think you can ignore us, idiot?!" The leader of the trio shouted, turning red in his anger.

"Yeah! Didn't your parents teach you not to ignore people when they're talking to you?!"

I must have frowned or something, because the trio smirked suddenly.

"Aw, poor weakling doesn't have any parents, does he?"

"I bet you they were killed by some enemy ninja or something."

"Ha! I bet that they killed themselves for having a weak looking thing like him!"

I clenched my fists, gritting my teeth. "S-Shut up."

The kids stopped and the leader leaned in closer with a scowl. "What did you say, weakling?"

"I think he told us to shut up."

"Oh, did he now?"

Suddenly, something hit me hard in the face, knocking me to the ground. The dull throb in my left cheek told me that the kid had punched me, but instead of doing anything back, I simply got up and dusted myself off.

"What? You wanna fight?" The missing tooth kid said looking eager, but I turned my back and began walking away.

"Figures." One of them scoffed. "Big chicken!"

"He's probably some monster too. That's why he was hanging out with Naruto."

"Haha! Probably! Only a stupid weakling like him would hang out with _that_ monster."

I stopped walking, hearing the trio behind me laughing at Naruto and I. Now, I could take the ridicule as long as it was directed to me. But now that they were talking about Naruto, the person who was willing to be my friend despite the fact that I'm a complete stranger to him and my other… _problems_ … Well, let's say I'm very loyal to my friends. In an instant, I punched the leader in the face, knocking him to the ground as I stood over him.

"Don't you talk about him like that!" I shouted, not noticing that we had the whole school yard's attention now. "Don't you talk about Naruto that way!"

"Why you—" The toothless kid ran forward, aiming to punch me back, but I was fed up with him too and simply jumped over him, tucking my feet up before landing behind him and knocking his feet out from under him.

The third kid caught me by surprise, having begun moving before I landed, and hit me hard in the stomach. I lost my breath for a moment, but quickly went back into the scuffle. At this point, it was three against one and I wasn't exactly winning, but I wasn't losing either. By the time the teachers came out and separated us, the three kids were crying and whining about their bruises and scrapes, whereas I wiped away my bloody nose and allowed the teacher to escort me back inside to the classroom where Iruka and Naruto were.

"Is he _your_ student, Iruka?" The teacher asked, and Iruka looked at me in shock, hurrying over and kneeling in front of me.

"Takeru?" Naruto questioned, moving to hurry over, but Iruka glared at him, making him stay where he was, cleaning the blackboard.

"Yes, but… what happened?"

"He got into a fight with three other kids."

"What?!"

The teacher left and Iruka turned to me with a frown, looking me over as I wiped a tear in the corner of my eye, not willing to full on cry over something like this.

"Takeru, what were you thinking?! I would've never expected something like this from you with how the Hokage described you."

I frowned, turning away stubbornly. "I didn't do anything wrong. _They_ started it."

He sighed. "It doesn't matter who started it. You shouldn't be fighting!"

"But they made fun of Naruto!" I shouted, rounding on him in my anger, surprising him.

"You got in a fight… because they made fun of Naruto?"

I looked over at said blonde, before looking back at Iruka and nodding. "They picked on me first, making fun of me because I look weak and don't have any parents… but I ignored them and was walking away. I didn't _want_ to fight! But then they called Naruto a monster and I-I got mad and…"

I frowned down at the ground, realizing now how lame my excuse sounded now that I said it, but still feeling frustrated about what the brats had said about Naruto. I was surprised though, when Iruka placed a kind hand on my shoulder.

"It was nice of you to stick up for your friend, Takeru… but perhaps, you should have gone about it differently. Okay?"

I pouted, but nodded as Iruka stood.

"Alright. Well, I still need to give you some sort of punishment, I suppose. Let me go get another rag and you can help Naruto finish cleaning the blackboard. I think that's suitable enough."

He gave me a wink and left the room, leaving Naruto and I alone. I was nervous, looking down at my hand that was bruising a little and not making eye contact with Naruto for now. I was worried that he would get upset with me for doing what I did and getting in trouble, but he surprised me.

"You… You got hurt because… they made fun of me?"

I hesitantly looked up at Naruto and nodded. "I-I didn't like that they called you a monster. Especially since I'm… well… you know… And you're my friend! I-I… We're supposed to stick up for each other, right?"

I felt my lips twitch up into a small sort of smile and Naruto practically beamed, dropping his rag and hurrying over, enveloping me in a hug before pulling away.

"You're the best, Takeru! Neh, next time, I'll let you in on my pranks, okay? That way, we can get back at those punks."

I chuckled a bit. "A-Alright, Naruto."  
Needless to say, that wouldn't be the last time I got hurt for Naruto, nor would it be the last time for us to prank someone. _Sure_ , it was childish and I technically was fifteen, but hey! Who could blame me? I'm only nine in this world and mental age or not, this body made sure I acted like a child. Besides, I'm sure that if I didn't, I'd probably end up a really depressed emo kid. Like Sasuke!

Oh wait, I haven't mentioned him, have I? Well, to summarize quickly, he kind of… _accidentally_ … got caught up in one of my and Naruto's pranks on those bullies from before and ended up with a rather _vibrant_ new hair color. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm still pretty shy around others in class, but I did apologize. Naruto though, just laughed and that seemed to get us on his bad list. Yeah… he kind of hated the two of us now… but Naruto helped me make some other friends. Sort of.

I was introduced to Choji, a rather large kid who constantly ate and wore—something that reminded me a lot of underwear—on his head. I didn't say any of this out loud, of course, he seemed like a nice enough kid. I really liked Shikamaru though. The kid was smart and, despite his lazy attitude, was actually kind of good looking. But you didn't hear that from me! I mean, yeah, Sasuke looked nice too but he was a bit too egotistical for me. Ah, but I'm getting off topic, there was one more guy I met and he was very similar to Naruto in how excitable and rambunctious he is. Plus, he had the neatest puppy! Though Kiba wasn't really sure what to make of me at first, he quickly discovered my adoration for dogs and occasionally let me play around with Akamaru when he got together with Naruto and I.

I can't say I really knew anyone other than that. They were all friends of Naruto's and the other guys in class stayed away from me after what I did with the bullies. I was forced to talk to one of them, a kid named Shino, but he didn't say a word and just gave me the paper I had asked for; though I swear I saw a bug or something sneak up under his sleeve. The girls in the class however, were worse than the guys. I mean, I could handle people not talking to me and ignoring me, but when they constantly giggled and cooed behind my back, glancing at me and then turning away and hurrying off, it got a little annoying. So I decided to gather up my courage and confront them. That had been a bad idea.

Turns out, they weren't making fun of me like I thought, they were actually _adoring_ me from afar. Apparently they thought I was cute or something and when I confronted them, I unleashed a torrent of rather annoying fans. Sure, they didn't giggle as much behind my back, but instead they chose a more _direct_ approach. At that point, I didn't know whether to be grateful or feel bad about the numerous times I skipped class to pull a prank with Naruto instead of dealing with them. When I heard graduation was coming up though, I got things back in shape.

Now, having entered the academy late, I was behind most of the class in just about all the subjects. However, I was above average in the basic studies, which really helped. Test wise, I was great. Straight As, 100 points, you name it. The ninja arts though, those could use some work. I was doing pretty good in Taijutsu, thanks to my newly founded feline flexibility, but the power behind my hit was lacking. It wasn't my fault though. I grew up in a mostly peaceful society back in my world, so causing others pain wasn't really something that I wanted to do. If my life was on the line, yeah, I'd probably hit as hard as I could, but for now, I was fine.

Ninjustu was probably my worst subject. The hand seals were difficult to memorize and with my stubby childish fingers, they were difficult to even _form_. Then came the whole gathering your chakra and actually using it. My chakra control wasn't the best and I often ended up having to stay after class to work one-on-one with Iruka just to learn how to get a hold of it and hang on to it. Not only that, but I was so focused on doing the hand seals perfectly, that my speed in forming the seals was lacking too. This meant that my Genjutsu abilities weren't exactly great either. Iruka said I had a good imagination and concept, but it was the hand seals that got me. That, and my attention to perfection. Then came the actual graduation test.

The night before, I had gotten no sleep; my mind suddenly realizing that if I passed this test, I would have to actually go out and _kill_ people. I wasn't sure if I could handle that, physically killing people. And when the morning of the test came around, I was so panicked that I failed every test. My shaky hands made it impossible to do the hand seals accurately, thus failing in my Ninjustu and Genjutsu tests. And, while I would've done great on the written test, I had forgotten to write my name on it in my panic and got a zero on that too. I wasn't the only one though. Naruto had failed alongside me and we both hung out at Ichiraku's to celebrate our failure with great food.

We had a good time afterwards though, pranking people who were mean to us in order to enjoy ourselves. It wasn't long after that however, that I learned a bit about Naruto's troubles. October 10th was the date. Naruto's birthday and I had noticed that people were glaring at him more and after he'd been tripped while we were walking and the man who tripped him began verbally harassing him, I realized that something was up. Naruto shouted back at the man and I wasn't sure what to do at the time, but when the man started to make like he was going to get physical, I intervened. Oddly enough, a masked ninja did the same and saved us that day—his spiky silver hair was familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on it—but I knew something was going on.

Naruto later explained that people usually did that. Always on his birthday. I remembered the way that man before had treated me and vowed that I would make Naruto's birthday the best day of the year from now on, since it had been the worst day of the year for him most of his life. He loved it. I had saved up some money from what the Hokage gave us and bought him a book I thought he'd like, since I usually hung out in the book store or library often, and I got him a set of kunai. I then treated him to ramen and we went home and planned our next pranks.

Surprisingly enough, I noticed that the Hokage never stopped us from doing pranks. You'd think, with him being the most powerful shinobi and all, that he'd have a way of knowing when we were going to do something crazy. Yet, we were never stopped until after the prank had been sprung. I didn't bother to question it, figuring that perhaps he was seeing it as though Naruto and I were training our shinobi skills or something; what with Naruto coming up with the ideas and me planning how we were going to do it and our escape routes. Either that, or maybe he secretly thought they were amusing too. I had no idea, but before I knew it, another year had passed.

I ended up failing the second graduation test as well, though not out of nervousness this time. At this point, I had gotten over the fact that there was going to be a time where I had to kill someone. I actually went out of my way to ask Asuma, Kurenai, Guy, and Kakashi about what they thought when they were going through this mindset and they gave me some helpful comments. Though, I probably shouldn't have asked Guy.

" _I was most youthful at that time! So I believed that, if I was even_ more _youthful—"_

I shook my head, pulling my mind out of that thought and resting the book I had been reading on my chest as I looked up at the clouds. I was reminiscing. A dangerous past time, I knew, but I couldn't help it. My third chance at graduation was coming up soon and I was unsure about what to do. The _real_ reason why I failed the last time, was because I had seen how much Naruto had been struggling and, even with my help, I knew he wasn't going to be able to pass. The only reason I wasn't with him now, was because he had gone off to go train, extremely serious about graduating this time around. _But if I graduate and he doesn't… Not only will he be hurt, but so will I._ I sighed. _Man, I've gotten so attached to him these past few years._

I snapped my book closed and got up with a yawn; the book cover reading ' _Ninja battle Tactics: Advanced Division'_ but I had just taken that cover off the book the Hokage had given me on the anniversary of my arrival at Konoha (my new birthday) and used it to hide that actual book I was reading, _' Icha Icha Paradise'_. What can I say? Someone had accidentally put it over in the wrong section of the book store and I got curious and found it a good story. Somehow, Naruto managed to get it for me on my make-shift birthday, having apparently caught me reading it. Nevertheless, now wasn't the time to be concerned with my odd choice in reading, my fan girl senses were tingling.

I could hear them speaking in hushed whispers behind some of the foliage nearby and decided that now was the best time to leave and maybe go find Naruto or someone to help me escape their wrath. Taking my chance, I tossed one of Naruto's smoke bombs on the ground and hurried off, hearing their shouts of outrage behind me and running faster. I ducked and dodged between people in the streets, shouting apologies on occasion, though they didn't listen. I was basically on the same status as Naruto ever since I helped him out, so the villagers weren't exactly pleasant towards me. Finally, I spotted someone familiar and quickly ran in front of him, grabbing his shoulders and turning him around to face the group of girls chasing me.

"O-Oi! What are you doing?!"

"Save me." I muttered, hiding behind him as the girls skidded to a stop in front of us.

"Shikamaru, move!"

"Yeah! We want to talk to Takeru!"

Shikamaru sighed, looking over his shoulder at me, annoyed. "Why are you dragging me into your problems?"

I chuckled nervously with a worried look. "B-Because I know you'll help me?"

"Troublesome." He sighed, turning back to the group of girls. "Sorry, Takeru's already made plans to come by my place today."

"Aw." The girls complained, but they all gave me smiles and waves as they left, me giving a hesitant smile and wave back.

Once they were gone, I released Shikamaru and let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Shika."

"Don't call me that." He complained. "And stop dragging me into these kinds of situations. They're such a pain."

"I'll try not to." I said, knowing that—despite what he was saying— Shikamaru didn't really mean it. "B-Bye, Shika. I need to go find Naruto."

He rolled his eyes as I waved and started to hurry off, him pulling his hand out of his pocket to give a lazy wave back; an accomplishment in and of itself. Finding Naruto wasn't hard, he trained in the same place every day and I soon found him grumbling in frustration with sweat sliding down the side of his face as he frowned at the ground.

"Stupid clone… Can't do anything right…"

"Are, um, are you okay Naruto?" I asked, stepping over to him and watching as he swept his frustration off his face and replaced it with a grin.

"Takeru! Can you give me any tips for this clone thing? I can't seem to get it right."

I nodded. "Sure. U-Um, try it and let me see if there's anything I can do to help."

He grinned and made the hand seal, face scrunched up in concentration.

"Clone Jutsu!"

There was a cloud of smoke and a weak looking, pale white, Naruto appeared beside him, slumped over on the ground with its tongue hanging out. I blinked at it, very confused at how Naruto could have accomplished something like this. After all, the clone jutsu was one of the only jutsu I was pretty good at since it only consisted of one hand seal and when I first did it, it didn't look like this. _Then again, mine didn't look like me at all. It looked like something that crawled out of a horror film with how its face was screwed up._

"So what do I do, Takeru?" Naruto asked, frowning down at his failed attempt of a clone. "I get this thing every time I do it and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong."

"Um, okay. Here. Get in your stance again."

Naruto did, hand seal at the ready, and I walked over and looked him over with a frown, a finger on my chin. Once I'd circled him, finding nothing outwardly wrong, I stopped before him and narrowed my eyes at his hands.

"Concentrate. Like you're going to do the jutsu, but don't do it yet."

He nodded and did so, but I stopped him.

"Stop. Um, how are you channeling your chakra?"

Naruto tilted his head. "Huh? Channeling it? Iruka sensei just said to focus on it."

"Well, um…" I scratched the back of my head, looking away sheepishly. "H-He's not wrong… Um, here! Close your eyes."

He raised a brow, but did as I said. "Okay. Now what."

"Now think of your chakra. Visualize it. Imagine it pooling up inside you and making a ball."

His brows furrowed in concentration as I went on.

"Okay. N-Now make that ball as small as you can and then let it all out at once and do the jutsu."

"Clone jutsu!" He shouted, a poof of smoke appearing beside him and a Naruto clone standing there. "Alright!"

I sweat dropped, not really sure if Naruto should be cheering just yet. "U-Um, Naruto? You better look again."

"Huh?" He turned back to the clone as the smoke disappeared and pointed at it as he began shouting. "What the heck?! It's not supposed to look like that!"

I silently agreed, sighing as I looked over the clone. Now, while it _was_ standing upright and not as pale as the first attempt, its face looked something like Picasso had painted. Its eyes weren't in the right places, its nose was small and tilted at an odd angle, and its mouth was _huge_. The clone disappeared with a puff of smoke and Naruto began childishly stomping his foot in frustration, and I tried to calm him down.

"Don't get upset, Naruto! I-It's better than your first try and that means you're improving!"

"But the graduation test is in three days, Takeru! I'll never be able to pass!"

"U-Um, I know! We'll help each other get ready for the test today and tomorrow and then the day before the test, let's do something fun to k-kind of wind down."

Naruto blinked at me and I thought for sure, that he hated my idea, but a big grin broke out on his face. "That's a great idea, Takeru! And the day before, let's do something super crazy!"

I gave him a small smile and nodded. "Y-Yeah!"

So, for the next two days, we did our best to prepare for the graduation tests and were training our hardest in a desperate attempt to cram. At the end of the second day though, Naruto and I spent the later hours to plan our biggest prank yet. It was so big, in fact, that I struggled to find a way to not get caught. I eventually managed, but it was going to end up being a very weak attempt at hiding from skilled jounin and chunin. And the closer that day came, the more worried I became. _Naruto and I still aren't completely ready for this test. Sure, Naruto can make a clone now, but it's still pretty messed up. And my transformation jutsu are pretty bad too, especially since they all have cat ears and a tail. How I'm going to explain that, I have no idea._

I shook my head, trying to clear my mind as Naruto and I hung by some ropes and painted swirls and other various things on the Hokage monument. I then took notice of the rising sun and grimaced.

"N-Naruto, we've got maybe another hour before people realize that we're here."

"Alright! Just let me know when, and we'll show those punks what we're made of." He said cheerfully, a bit of paint streaking the side of his face.

Unfortunately, I miscalculated a bit and the shinobi caught onto us a bit sooner than expected, which is how we ended up where we were now, with two adults chasing after us.

"Naruto! Takeru! Come back here! When I get my hands on you two—"

"You crossed the line this time, Naruto! And I can't believe you went along with it, Takeru!"

"Bwahaha!" Naruto chuckled, a bucket of yellow paint still in his hand, and his jacket tied around his waist.

I had my own bucket of green paint in my hand and my jacket also tied around my waist, but I wasn't laughing. "I couldn't help it!" I complained back to the men chasing us.

We all jumped off the buildings nearby, trying to evade one another, as Naruto mocked them.

"Ahaha! Give it up! You're just bent because you don't have the guts to do what we do! Do ya?! Losers! Wanna be's! You'll never catch us!"

"N-Naruto! How is that helping us?!" I whined, dodging one of the men as he tried to grab my jacket.

"Ahaha! You're no fun, Takeru! Live a little!"

"Isn't that what I'm doing now?!"

We both jumped down and jumped back up, but the ninjas missed the fact that Naruto and I had actually hid behind a cloth that helped us blend in with the fence.

"Ahaha!" Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "That was too easy!"

"T-That's what I'm worried about." I muttered, when I felt my ears twitch under my hat and my hair stand on end. _Uh-oh._

"Oh yeah?! Naruto! Takeru!"

"Wah!" Naruto jumped in a panic and landed on his backside in the dirt, whereas I just flinched with a wince. _We're caught._ "Where'd you come from, Iruka sensei?! What are you doing here?!"

"No, what are _you two_ doing here?" He growled, pointing at us as I helped Naruto up. "You're both supposed to be in class."

Naruto frowned and I could tell he was going to make a bolt for it, but before we could so much as move a step, Iruka had us both tied up; Naruto tucked under his arm and me over his shoulder.

"Nice try."

He quickly ran over the rooftops and brought us back to the classroom where the other students were waiting, dropping us unceremoniously onto the ground before starting to lecture us.

"I'm at the end of my rope, Naruto, Takeru. You both failed the graduation test last time _and_ the time before that. Tomorrow, you've both got another chance and you're messing up again!"

"Hm!" Naruto huffed, turning away as I sweat dropped and looked over at him.

Iruka wasn't pleased. "Fine! Because _you two_ missed it, everyone will review the Transformation Jutsu!"

"Aw!" Everyone complained.

"No arguing!" Iruka said. "Now line up!"

Everyone came down from their desks and lined up as Iruka untied Naruto and I, and each began going through the process of transforming.

"Alright, Sakura here. Let's do it!" Sakura said, a girl with vibrant pink hair who I had gotten to know a little.

She was one of Sasuke's fans and had some sort of rivalry friendship with another girl in class called Ino. I didn't mind her. She said that I was cute too, but she said she wouldn't give up Sasuke for some 'scaredy-cat' like me, as she put it. I didn't mind. In fact, I was grateful. One less stalker fan girl for me. Sakura was nice enough and smart too, but she felt a bit too… obsessive with Sasuke to really become anything more than an acquaintance to me.

"Transform!"

I had to admit though, she had some really good chakra control. _She transformed into Iruka perfectly._ As Iruka praised her and she asked Sasuke about how she did, I fidgeted beside Naruto. _I've been working on my transformation around Naruto, but those ears and tail are going to be a problem._ Sasuke easily transformed into Iruka too and I knew that it was my turn before Iruka even said my name.

"Takeru Kobayashi."

"This is a total waste of time, Takeru." Shikamaru complained from beside Naruto.

"We always pay for your guys' screw ups." Ino also whined.

"Like we care." Naruto quipped back, giving me a grin and a thumbs up. "Good luck, Takeru!"

I nodded back at him and stood in front of Iruka nervously, feeling sweat trickled down the back of my neck despite the reassuring smile he was giving me.

"Go ahead, Takeru."

Taking a deep breath, I put my hands into the seal and did what I could.

"Transform!"

A poof of smoke appeared besides me and a copy of Iruka stood there with a smile. I thought I had finally done it and was excited, until I spotted the cat ears on the top of his head and my smile faltered. Iruka though was very confused and scratched his head as he wrote something down on his clip board.

"It's, uh, almost a perfect copy. But do try to keep your thoughts free of… _cats_ when you're doing this jutsu, Takeru."

"Y-Yes, sir." I muttered, bowing my head and hiding my bright red face as I moved back over to where Naruto was.

"That's alright, Takeru!" He said, patting me on the back roughly as his name was called. "Watch this!"

He stepped forward and did the hand seal. "Transform!"

When he turned into a long haired, blonde _naked_ woman though, I wasn't the only one red in the face in embarrassment. Poor Iruka got a bloody nose and nearly passed out, though Naruto just laughed.

"Ahaha! Gotcha! That's my Sexy Jutsu!"

"Cut your stupid tricks!" Iruka shouted after having recovered. "This is your last warning!"

Needless to say, it wasn't surprising when Naruto and I were stuck cleaning up the graffiti off the Hokage monuments after school. The whole time, I stayed silent, trying to think up ways to keep my cat appendages from showing up in my Transformation Jutsu, but Naruto scrubbed beside me and muttered complaints.

"This sucks, loser."

"Neither of you are going home until you've cleaned off every single drop of paint." Iruka scolded from his perch above us.

"So what?!" Naruto shouted back. "It's not like there's anyone waiting at home for me! Takeru's the only one and he's stuck here with me!"

I felt my chest ache, images of my old family flashing through my head, and a small sorrowful frown made its way onto my face. Naruto had a similar frown, though his was a bit more annoyed than mine.

"Naruto?" Iruka called.

"What do ya want _now_ , sensei?"

"Well, I was just thinking…" He pretended like he wasn't up to something, but I knew better. "…Maybe after you two have cleaned this all up, I could take you two out for some ramen. The good stuff. What do you think?"

"Now you did it." I muttered, catching Iruka's attention as Naruto got all excited.

"Ah! Now that's some serious motivation! We'll have this clean in no time! Right, Takeru?!"

I glanced over at him and then up at Iruka, pleadingly. "C-Can we get dango too?"

He chuckled, scratching at the scar across his nose. "I'm sure I could get you some, Takeru."

I nodded, the hint of a smile on my face—though it disappeared quickly—and Naruto and I got to work. It was getting late by the time we finished cleaning up all the paint and I made a mental note to water down the paint next time we did something like this so that it would be easier to clean if we got caught, but we were soon sitting at Ichiraku's ramen stand with a couple of hot bowls of soup and a few sticks of dango for me. Oddly enough, as we chowed down, Iruka began to question the two of us.

"Naruto."

"Hm?" Naruto asked, mouth full of ramen.

"Why would you do that to the Hokage faces? I mean, you _know_ who the Hokage are, don't you?"

"Course I do." Naruto said confidently, draining his bowl of everything in it. "Everybody knows. They were the greatest shinobi of their time, right? The best of the best? Undefeated ninja champs? And the fourth Hokage's the one who saved the village… from the nine-tailed fox. He was the most amazing."

"Then why did you—"

"Because I'm going to be greater than any of them. Me. Naruto! The next Hokage! A ninja legend! Then everyone would have to stop disrespecting me and look up to me! Believe it!" Naruto said loudly, pointing his chopsticks at a dumbfounded Iruka.

Iruka then leaned over a bit, eyeing me. "What about you, Takeru? Why do you go along with his crazy schemes?"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, but Iruka ignored him for now.

"I mean, you _know_ you'll get in trouble for it, don't you?"

I looked up from my half empty ramen bowl, having wondered that myself from time to time. Why _did_ I go along with these crazy pranks of Naruto's? Was it because he was my only real friend? Or maybe it was because I enjoyed doing it? Or could it be because of this new profession I was getting into and I just wanted to be a little skilled at getting out of tight situations? Then there was that other reason. The reason I didn't want to think of. Maybe, I was distracting myself to keep from realizing the kind of situation I was in. I had died and ended up in this world. Was there a way to get back? I had no clue and I didn't want to get my hopes up thinking there was one. So I settled for this. For finding things to do with my spare time to keep from thinking about it.

But now came the other question. Would I tell any of this to Iruka? Sure, he was our sensei and someone Naruto cared for, but that was just it. He was _Naruto's_ sensei. _Naruto's_ parental figure. The adult that _Naruto_ trusted the most. I barely knew him. He was a nice teacher, yeah, but I didn't have this bond with him that Naruto had. I had more of a bond with Asuma and Kakashi—despite our previous encounter, I had taken up to following him some days to distract myself and to annoy him—than I did Iruka. So no, I decided. I wouldn't tell him the real reason, but I wouldn't lie either.

"I-I think it helps test my skills i-in battle strategy. I-I'm in charge of finding escape routes and… maybe it could help when I'm a ninja."

"Really?" Iruka seemed suspicious, so I added a bit more, embarrassment showing itself on my face as I turned back to my ramen.

"A-A-And it's kind of fun. A nice distraction from… tests and stuff."

Iruka sighed and turned his attention back to Naruto as I picked up a stick of dango and munched on it, ignoring their conversation about ninja headbands. After all, I still had to figure out what I was going to do for graduation. Naruto's skills were nearly up to par with the graduation requirements, but that didn't necessarily mean that he would pass. But if I didn't pass and he did, what would be the point? I sighed quietly and watched Iruka and Naruto bicker like a couple of brothers, silently wondering if I would ever be that close to someone again.


	3. Graduation Tests and Teams

Today was the day. Graduation. Naruto and I had worked hard training to get to this point and, after thinking about it for a long time, I decided that I was going to do my best this year in the hopes that Naruto would pass too. I felt guilty when I thought about what I had been doing before, purposely failing to stay with Naruto, and I hoped that maybe… maybe he would be happy for me should he not make it. I know it was selfish thinking, but I would be happy for him if it was the other way around. _Let's just hope we both pass._

"We will now start the final exam." Iruka announced. "When your name is called, proceed to the testing room. The final test will be on… the Clone Jutsu."

I immediately looked over at Naruto in worry, knowing that this was his worst technique and mine as well. He had his head in his hands and I bit my bottom lip as Iruka began calling the first names up for the test. _It's okay. It has to be. Naruto and I have practiced very hard for this test so…we_ have _to pass this year… I hope._ It took a while, causing my panic to slowly rise, but soon my name was called and I got up and headed towards the door, only to hear a shout.

"Good luck, Takeru! You'll pass for sure!"

I looked up at the grinning Naruto and gave him a hesitant smile, before following the ninja out of the room and to the testing room. I entered and immediately felt intimidated. Iruka and Mizuki—the sensei for weapons training—sat behind a large table full of blue headbands. I swallowed thickly, trying to gather up my courage as I put my hands into the seal.

"Clone Jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke and I clenched my eyes shut tight. _Please have no ears or tail, please, please, please._ Peeking open my eyes, I was glad to discover that my clones were all an exact copy of myself and there was no ears or tails in sight. _I did it… I did it!_

"Good job, Takeru." Iruka smiled. "Come collect your headband. You're now officially a ninja of Konoha."

I hurried up to the desk and took said headband from him excitedly, looking at it and then back at him as I remembered my manners and bowed gratefully.

"T-Thank you!"

He chuckled. "It's a lot better than before, Takeru. You've really improved and perhaps even Naruto will pass this year, thanks to you."

I straightened upright in surprise as Iruka winked at me.

"Don't think I wouldn't have noticed you two improving together. Now go on. I have other students to test."

I bobbed my head in a nod and hurried out of the testing room and outside to where the other students were, hanging onto my headband until Naruto would come out. I spotted Shikamaru and Choji hanging out nearby, but didn't want to approach them without Naruto, since they were _his_ friends, but Shikamaru caught my eye and gestured for me to come over. I headed over and he raised a brow—his headband on his arm.

"You didn't pass, Takeru?"

I shook my head, pulling out the headband I'd tucked into my pocket a moment ago, eyeing the school door. "I-I did. I was just waiting to s-surprise Naruto."

He seemed even more confused and Choji stepped forward, stuffing some chips in his mouth—his headband on his head.

"Are you sure he'll pass?"

I bit my bottom lip nervously. "I hope so." I looked down at my own headband in worry. "He'll be really upset if he doesn't. W-We worked really hard this time."

"Hm." Shikamaru hummed. "Well, maybe he'll get lucky."

I nodded, but as I looked over at the school door again and saw the familiar head of blonde walk out, I felt a rock settle in my stomach. He wasn't bouncing around in excitement and he was staring right at the ground, dragging his feet over to his favorite swing and sitting on it sideways, clutching the rope in his hands as parents of other students began showing up.

"Oh, no…"

I hurried over to Naruto and quickly tucked my headband into my pocket, concern eating at my insides as I approached.

"Naruto?"

He looked over at me and looked me up and down before giving me a crooked grin. "You didn't pass either, Takeru?"

I bit my bottom lip, looking down and hesitantly pulled my headband out of my pocket and showed it to him.

"S-Sorry, Naruto…" I whispered, feeling bad that I had passed and he hadn't.

He chuckled, but it was dead compared to his usual jolliness. "Heh, you would pass, huh? I guess that means that I'll be taking the academy again alone."

I shook my head, holding my headband tightly. "No! I-I can still help you! I-I can… train you and stuff so you'll pass next ti—"

"I don't need your help, Takeru!" He shouted, making me flinch back in shock as he turned away from me and gripped the swing's rope tightly.

"B-B-But, I can hel—"

"Go away! I don't need you to help me, Takeru!" He shouted again, not looking at me as tears pricked the corner of my eyes. "Don't waste your time! I'm just a stupid idiot! A big monster like everyone says! So stop! Leave me alone!"

He finally turned towards me and noticed that he'd upset me, but before he could say anything, I spoke back.

"I-I really like you, Naruto. You're my b-best friend a-and the only friend I have and I'll always help you when you want me to. A-And if anyone's a monster… I am… s-so I would never _ever_ call you a monster!" I finally shouted, before turning around and running off, not noticing the shocked expression he wore as I fled the scene.

* * *

Before I knew it, I was a bit lost in an empty part of Konoha, breathing hard and crying as I scanned my surroundings. I was too upset to actively want to find a way home, knowing that Naruto would probably be waiting there, and instead curled up on the ground with my knees to my chest as I tried to get a hold of myself. Believe it or not, what he said had really hurt me. Sure, I shouldn't be crying since I was technically older than I looked, but I was even more insecure in this world than I was back home. I didn't belong here and I stuck myself to Naruto in a vain attempt to try and fit in. It was childish thinking.

 _I'll never fit in here. I-I've never been trained to be a killer. There wasn't any reason in my world. And now that my parents are gone and I have no way of getting home that I know of, what am I supposed to do? Naruto is the only one I can turn to and even_ he _hates me now. Maybe he's right. I am just wasting my time. I should just go back and turn in my headband a-and say I can't do this. I can't kill anyone! I-I don't know what I'll do when it gets to the point where I have to. I'd be better off becoming some civilian here and just selling ramen or something._ I sniffled quietly, when I heard someone.

"Hm? What are you doing all the way out here, Takeru?"

I lifted my head to see Kakashi in front of me, looking a bit worried.

"You okay?"

I sniffled some more and wiped the tears from my face with a slow nod. "I-I-I'm fine."

I doubt he believed it, but he just shrugged. "Okay."

He started to walk away and I was about to let him, but I thought he might be able to help me out and hurried after him before he got too far; grabbing the edge of his flak jacket and making him pause and look at me from over his shoulder.

"U-Um… C-C-Can I talk to you for a bit?"

He gave me a confused expression, like he didn't really want me too, but I've discovered that if I looked at adults the right way, they couldn't say no. Sure enough, he sighed and nodded, starting to walk again as I walked beside him. I just didn't know where to start though, so we stayed silent until Kakashi spoke, pointing to my hand.

"I see you graduated."

I looked down at the headband still clutched in my hand and nodded sorrowfully. "Yeah…"

"You didn't want to?"

I looked up at him and turned away, sighing through my nose. "I-I don't know anymore. I, um… The first time I tried to graduate, I was too nervous to do anything right. Then the second time… I failed it on purpose."

"Why would you do that?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious.

I flushed a bit, embarrassed to be telling someone this, especially someone who was such good friends with Iruka—something I found out from Guy.

"I… didn't want to graduate without Naruto… but I guess that doesn't matter now."

"He didn't pass?"

I shook my head, feeling myself start to get upset once more. "N-No… And he hates me now too."

"I don't believe that." Kakashi said, but I shook my head again.

"No, he does. H-He said that he didn't want my help a-and that I should leave him alone and be mean like everyone else is and call him a monster but… I'm more of a monster than he is."

I wiped more tears from my face and felt a hand on my head, making me look up at Kakashi as he spoke sternly.

"You're not a monster, Takeru. You just… made some mistakes. Naruto knows that, so I'm sure he won't hate you."

"I'm so stupid." I muttered, frowning. "It was childish to think that Naruto would be happy about me passing. I'm selfish."

Kakashi raised a brow. "Don't you think it's okay to be a little selfish sometimes? And you're only, what? Twelve? I'm sure acting childish is something normal."

I continued to frown. "But m-maybe I shouldn't be a ninja… How did you do it, Kakashi?"

"Do what?"

I fidgeted, trying to figure out how to say this without being too blunt. "H-How did you, um… handle taking care of… someone… the first time?"

He looked confused, before it seemed to click. "Ah… You mean kill someone?"

I winced, nodding slightly.

He put a hand to his chin, thoughtfully. "I just did what I had to at the time."

I deadpanned, looking up at him blankly. "You're not very good at this, are you?"

He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Mah, you caught me… but… Try thinking about it this way. Say the person you're going after is a bad guy. Now what do you think he'll do if you let him go?"

"He'll keep being a bad guy or he'll change… right?"

Kakashi nodded. "Right, but it's more likely that they will keep doing bad things. So it makes you wonder how many people will continue being hurt if you don't stop them. Does that help?"

I nodded. "Uh-huh. But, Kakashi, what if they're not so bad? Like… what if they have a good reason to be doing what they're doing?"

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" He said, before sighing and pulling a hand through his hair. "I suppose you would try to stop them another way. Try to get them to change instead of killing them maybe."

I felt a bit better now that I had talked to someone about everything and nodded, looking down at my headband.

"Then that's what I'll be."

"Hm?"

I looked up at Kakashi confidently. "I'll be a ninja that changes the bad guys into good ones!"

Kakashi sweatdropped. "But, uh… what'll happen if you _do_ have to kill someone?"

I frowned thoughtfully. "Then I'll just have to make up for it by saving more bad guys, right?"

I gave Kakashi a grin, feeling like that was the perfect answer. That this is what I was supposed to do and he just sighed with a shake of his head. As I looked around though, I realized that we were nearly to mine and Naruto's apartment, but I still had one more thing to ask Kakashi.

"Um… what were you doing over in that dark part of Konoha, Kakashi?"

He seemed to look sad in that moment and I wondered if I said something wrong.

"I was just… visiting an old friend's house."

" _Old_ friend? Old _house_? Or a friend who is old?" I said so quickly that I barely had time to register what I said. "I-I mean—"

"No, it's okay." Kakashi said, though his eyes still looked sad. "He was just… an old friend."

"Oh… Was he a good friend?"

Kakashi nodded. "A very good friend."

"Is he… you know…"

Another nod let me know that yes, his friend was dead and I bowed my head, understanding the sadness in Kakashi's eyes now. I felt bad too. Here I was just using my new childish appearance to get answers from someone I barely knew and making them hurt for it too.

"I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't be asking… Do you think… I could have a friend like that too?"

Kakashi looked down at me and gave me a closed-eye grin. "I think you already do. Don't you?"

 _Naruto…_ I gave him a nod and realized that we were at my apartment, turning and giving him a quick hug and running off towards the stairs.

"Thank you, Kakashi! I-I'm sure your friend thinks you're a really good friend too! B-But, uh, could you not tell Asuma that I was being silly? He'll make playing shogi harder." I pouted, making him chuckled.

"Sure."

He waved then as I hurried up the stairs and opened the door excitedly, searching for Naruto to apologize, only to find him missing. I scrunched up my eyebrows in worry as I looked out the window at the slowly setting sun. _I wonder where he is… but I have to make it up to him!_ I went into the kitchen, letting my tail out to get more comfortable, tying my headband to my upper left arm, and rolling up my jacket sleeves. _I'll make him the best dinner ever! Ramen and rice and tempura and everything! And… maybe then he'll forgive me._

* * *

Hours passed and no sign of Naruto. The food I had made had long gone cold and I was starting to get really worried that maybe Naruto _did_ hate me. Someone knocked on the door then and I quickly stuffed my tail down the back of my pants as I cracked the door open to see who it was. Oddly enough, it was Iruka.

"I-Iruka sensei?"

He looked a little out of breath as he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "H-Hey there, Takeru. I was wondering if you might have seen Naruto?"

I frowned, shaking my head. "No. I-I made dinner to apologize for upsetting him earlier, but… he hasn't come home yet. I-Is something wrong? Is he in trouble?"

"Kind of." He said, turning to go. "Could you tell me if you find him?"

I frowned. "I-I want to help too!"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you really can't, Takeru. I would promise you that nothing bad is going to happen to him, but I can't be sure until I find him."

I slowly nodded. "I-I'll tell you if he comes back."

I then closed the door and locked it, grabbing a kunai from Naruto's set and tucking it in my jacket pocket before opening the window and climbing out. _There's no way I'm going to just sit here as Naruto gets hunted down._ I thought, shutting the window and jumping down, running to hide in an alleyway as I looked at the shinobi jumping along the roofs. _That's a lot of ninja… Naruto, what did you do?_ I quickly sped through the alleys, using my enhanced nose to try and find Naruto's scent and discovered it out by the forest. Hiding my chakra, something I'm pretty good at for some reason, I jumped up into the trees and followed the scent before hopping down and sneaking closer. I had smelled Iruka's and Mizuki's scent as well, thus my sudden need for secrecy, and the iron scent of blood wasn't something that I wanted to be involved in just yet. _I-I'll jump in if Naruto's in danger, b-but I don't even know who the enemy is…_

"Naruto!" Mizuki shouted in the tree above me, though I was tucked away behind its large roots. "Give me the scroll now!"

"Wait a minute." Naruto said, obviously just as confused as I was. "What's going on here?"

I watched Iruka pull a kunai from his leg in concern, still not knowing where they had come from and who was right in this situation. _What's in that scroll that everyone wants? And why does Naruto have it?_

"Naruto! Don't let Mizuki get the scroll! It contains forbidden jutsu that could put this village in grave danger! Mizuki _used_ you to get the scroll for himself, for his own power!"

 _Y-You're kidding…_ I looked over at Naruto as he seemed to realize who the bad guy was as well, but then Mizuki put a twist on everything.

"Naruto, Iruka's just trying to scare you, because he doesn't want you to have the scroll."

"Huh?" Naruto was confused again, but there was just something about Mizuki that had me sensing danger.

I was going to side with Iruka on this one. _But how can I even help in this situation?_

"Stop lying, Mizuki! Don't let him trick you, Naruto!"

Mizuki laughed. "Oh, I'll tell you who's _really_ lying."

"No, Mizuki!"

I frowned, unsure about where this was going now. Mizuki obviously had something that Iruka didn't want Naruto to know, but why would he keep something from him?

"They've been lying to you your whole life, Naruto. Since the decree twelve years ago."

 _Decree? What is he talking about?_

"What decree?" Naruto questioned.

"Everyone knows except you and probably that other brat you hang out with that that group of jounin picked up. Iruka's trying to hide it from you even now! He'd do anything to shut me up."

"What is this decree? Why does everyone else know about it?"

"Don't tell him! It's forbidden!" Iruka shouted.

Mizuki didn't listen. "The decree is, no one can tell you the nine-tailed fox is inside _you_."

I learned about the nine-tailed fox and all the destruction it caused in school when I was learning about the Fourth Hokage. I didn't really have any feelings on it and just sort of took it as another odd history lesson. I mean, yeah, I was kind of shocked that there were giant tailed beasts in this world, but they are called 'beasts' for a reason, right? Of course they would go crazy the moment they're released. Learning something like this though… It was tough. For one thing I had no idea how the Fourth managed to take something big enough to destroy a village and put it into Naruto. Plus, I didn't know why the Fourth would do something like that. Why Naruto? The biggest question for me though, was what would I do with this new information and how would it change my relationship with Naruto?

 _I-I mean, it's a little scary, but I haven't seen anything that makes him like a monster._ I'm _more of a monster than he is since you can obviously see the whole monster part but… I-I really like Naruto. Would I really change everything I've grown to know and like about him with something that happened to him in the past?_ I grew more confident. _No. No, I wouldn't. Naruto is my friend and no stupid fox thing is going to change that._ I felt and saw Naruto getting angry, his chakra flying around him and I got really worried. _Naruto…_

"That's why you will _never_ be accepted in this village! Even your beloved sensei hates your guts! I bet that brat you hang out with will too, once he finds out what you're hiding!"

 _No! No! I wouldn't!_ I wanted to shout, but I knew that I needed to keep myself hidden if I didn't want to get hurt. _Or if I wanted to use surprise to my advantage, but… all I have is a single kunai…_

"Die, Naruto!" Mizuki shouted and he threw a huge shuriken at him.

I moved before I even knew what happened. Pain erupted in my left shoulder, having been unable to block the giant shuriken completely with my kunai as it spun, and I was breathing hard, trying not to cry out at how much this hurt.

"T-Takeru? W-Why?" Naruto whispered from behind me and I looked over my shoulder, a pained smile on my face.

"B-Because, Naruto… I-I'm a monster too, remember?"

His eyes widened as I went on.

"A-And I don't want to be alone… I know you don't either. We're best friends, r-right? So we have to look out for each o-other."

Blood seeped through my jacket and I grunted, knees giving out from under me as I flopped to the ground.

"O-Ouch."

"Takeru!" Iruka shouted, doing his best to make his way over and protect us both should Mizuki try something again; confusing Naruto once more.

"Why, Iruka sensei? W-Why are you still protecting me?"

"Because we're the same." Iruka said, voice cracking with tears. "When I lost my parents, no one seemed to care. They didn't have time for me. They just forgot I was there. My grades dropped. I became the class clown. I just wanted them to see me and to know my name. My school work wasn't good enough to get their attention, so I did crazy things, and then I had to pay for it. It was hard. I know that's how you feel, Naruto. You feel lonely and it hurts inside. And I could've been there for you more. I let you down. I'm sorry. No one should have to suffer that much. No one should be alone like that."

Mizuki laughed, drawing our attention back to him as I clutched at my bleeding shoulder.

"Don't make me laugh! Iruka always hated you! He was orphaned because the nine-tailed fox killed his parents and that beast is now inside _you_! He'd say anything to get the scroll from you!"

Naruto gave me a glance, before making a bolt for it, running into the forest as Iruka shouted out after him.

"Naruto! Naruto!"

I cringed, standing on my feet and grit my teeth as I yanked out the giant shuriken with a whimper.

"T-Takeru?"

I gave Iruka a small smile, eyes sad. "I-I'll go after him, Iruka sensei, but I don't think he'd betray you. I-I don't know you all that well, but you're really nice to Naruto and…" I glanced away. "…and I wish I had someone like that."

I took off running then, desperately trying to ignore the pain in my shoulder and being glad that I hadn't seen the probable look of pain on Iruka's face as I did. Iruka was Naruto's favorite, not mine, so I didn't want to take his attention off the one person who really cared. Jumping through the trees, I spotted Naruto and he caught sight of me, getting wide-eyed and stopping, allowing me to catch up and lean against him as my strength gave out.

"N-Naruto, we need to hide. I really don't think Mizuki is a good guy in this situation, and Iruka sensei will protect us."

"A-Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Positive, come on. Let's get down on the ground and hide. I smell them coming."

He nodded and helped me down, allowing me to lean up against the tree as he stared worriedly.

"D-Don't worry." I said, giving him my best effort of a smile. "I'll be okay."

"But y-you're bleeding."

"Think o-of it this way. The sooner we stop Mizuki, t-the sooner I can get to a hospital or something. Okay?"

He hesitantly nodded, eyeing my shoulder, just as we heard Iruka and Mizuki arguing.

"You're a fool! Why are you protecting that _freak_?! He's the one that wiped out your family!"

"I don't care what you say. You're not getting your hands on that scroll."

I saw Naruto grip the scroll tighter, and I gave him shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"As if _you_ could stop me. Don't you get it? Naruto is just like me."

"How's that?"

"He wants the scroll for his own power and his own vengeance. That's how beasts are. He'll pour all his rage into the scroll and destroy everything."

"He might." Iruka said, making Naruto grow more depressed.

"So it's true." He whispered. "Iruka sensei never believed in me. He thinks I'm some beast. Some kind of freak!"

"Naruto…" I muttered back. _What is Iruka saying? He knows we're over here. Does he really think this way?_

"That is how beasts are." Iruka continued. "But that's not who Naruto is. He's nothing like that. Naruto's one of a kind. Works hard, puts his whole heart into it. Sure he messes up sometimes and everyone jumps on him, but his suffering only makes him stronger. That's what separates him from being a beast. So you're wrong. He's nothing like the nine-tailed fox. He's Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha!"

Naruto was in tears beside me and I managed to reach around and pull him closer to me, letting him rub his tears and snot into my jacket as I smiled a bit.

"S-See? You should trust Iruka sensei."

"Huh, you really believe that dribble, Iruka?" Mizuki said, as Naruto wiped his eyes. "I was going to save you for later, but I changed my mind. You're finished!"

Mizuki went to go kill Iruka, and Naruto sent me a look.

"Sorry, Takeru. There's something I have to do."

I nodded and watched him go, moving just enough so that I could see what was going to happen next. Naruto tackled Mizuki, knocking the giant shuriken out of his hands and into the trees.

"Not bad, for a little punk." Mizuki said, standing.

"If you _ever_ lay a hand on my sensei or Takeru, I'll _kill_ you!" Naruto growled.

"Such big words. I can completely destroy you with a single move!"

"Take your best shot, fool. I'll give it back a thousand fold!"

I saw Naruto doing a familiar hand sign and began to grow concerned. _A clone? But… he couldn't even make it through the graduation test…_ Mizuki seemed to have read my thoughts and didn't believe Naruto for an instant.

"Let's see you try! Show me what you can do, nine-tailed fox!"

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and my jaw dropped in shock at the hundreds of Narutos that now surrounded Mizuki.

The clones all began teasing Mizuki and before the man knew what to do, the Naruto's had completely knocked him out, leaving Naruto standing above him with a grin, laughing and rubbing the back of his head.

"Hehehe, sorry. I kind of got carried away. You okay, Iruka sensei?"

"Yeah…" Iruka said, a bit breathless.

"Ah! Takeru! Are you okay too?! I didn't forget! I promise!" Naruto shouted, hurrying over to me and fretting as I chuckled a little, wincing as the action shifted my shoulder.

"I-I'm okay, Naruto."

"No you're not! You're really hurt!"

"I-I'll be okay." I said, just as Iruka called out to him.

"Naruto? Come here a minute. I've got something I want to give you. Close your eyes."

"Sensei, how much longer?" Naruto asked, Iruka having removed his headband and placing it on Naruto.

"Okay. You can open your eyes now."

Naruto wasn't sure what to do now that Iruka did this.

"Congratulations. You graduate! And to celebrate, I have a surprise. We're going out for ramen tonight! …Huh?"

Naruto suddenly tackled Iruka in a hug. "Iruka-sensei!"

"Hey! That hurts!" Iruka complained through laughter.

I watched the two of them silently for a moment, before Iruka spotted me.

"Ah, we should probably get you looked at."

I raised a brow. "You too, I think, Iruka-sensei."

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head nervously as he stood and headed over to me, picking me up as carefully as he could.

"Don't forget me!" Naruto called out. "I'm coming too!"

"Alright, Naruto. Let's go."

Naruto grinned, giving me a thumbs up as the three of us headed to the hospital. I wasn't pleased by the scolding I received about recklessly disobeying an adult and throwing myself into danger that Iruka, the nurse, and the Hokage gave me. Even Naruto didn't get that bad of a lecture and he was the one who got in this mess in the first place! The Hokage ruffled my hair though afterwards, before telling me something I'd never expect it hear.

"You'll make a great ninja…" He only made things worse though by mentioning something else. "… _if_ you don't keep purposely failing your end of the year tests."

My eyes widened as Naruto looked shocked.

"Huh?!" He rounded on me then as I glared at the Hokage.

"Thanks a bunch, old man."

"What do you mean purposely fail?! Takeru, you could've passed last year?!"

I sighed, giving Naruto my pitiful look. "B-But… I didn't want to graduate without you, Naruto."

He flushed slightly in embarrassment and bowed his head. "A-Alright… I guess that's okay…"

I gave the Hokage a blank look and stuck out my tongue mockingly. _Take that._ _No one's going to break us apart now. Naruto is, after all, my best and only friend. And not even the nine-tailed fox is going to change that._

* * *

The morning after next was a bit rough for me. For one thing, I didn't get much sleep thanks to Naruto's little display the night he went after the scroll and I spent the next day cleaning up after him. It was thanks to that, that I ended up being woken up by him this morning (apparently he wanted to let me sleep as much as possible while he ate breakfast), the two of us on the verge of being late for school if we didn't leave now. We bumped into some kid on the way, someone Naruto had met yesterday supposedly, but he was nothing to really worry about and we soon passed him up.

Once we showed up and sat down though, I realized something that I hadn't thought about before. _I forgot we get teams today! I might not end up with Naruto!_ Worry grew in my stomach and I chewed on the end of my jacket sleeve nervously (thankful for the fact that I had gotten more than one jacket should my other one get ruined, which it did). _Please let me get on Naruto's team. Please._ I silently begged as Naruto snickered in front of me. Shikamaru walked by then, stopping in surprise.

"What are you doing here, Naruto? This isn't for dropouts. You can't be here unless you graduated."

Naruto gestured to his headband with his thumb. "Oh yeah? Do you see this? Do you see this? Open your eyes, Shikamaru. It's a regulation headband. We're going to be training together! How do you like that?"

"N-Naruto, you don't have to be so mean about it." I stuttered out. "Shika just didn't know."

Naruto looked back at me. "Hm? Yeah, well…" He looked back at Shikamaru. "Let me put it to you this way, I look great in this headgear. Like it was made for me! Believe it! Haha!"

I sighed. _That's not an apology, Naruto…_ Just then though, my ears picked up hurried footsteps and I watched as Ino and Sakura forced their way in through the door, having had some kind of race to get here, I guess. I looked over at Naruto who was looking over at them with rosy cheeks and I frowned slightly. _He likes Sakura… Maybe… if I can't get on his team, Sakura will…_ Sakura began hurrying over and Naruto stood up to say hi, but she shoved him roughly out of the way.

"Move it! …Uh, good morning, Sasuke." She said. "Mind if I sit next to you?"

 _That's right… she likes Sasuke…_ I got out of my seat and helped Naruto up. _Looks like Naruto's going to have a rough time._

"Back off, forehead! I'm sitting next to Sasuke!" Ino shouted, grabbing Sakura's arm.

 _Oh no, here we go._ I thought in worry, knowing that this is how it always starts. _One girl starts to cuddle up to him, and then everyone wants a piece._

"I was here first!"

"I walked into the classroom before you did! Everybody saw it!"

"Dream on!"

More girls started adding to the argument before I was suddenly dragged into the argument.

"What about Takeru? He needs someone to sit next to!"

"I'll do it!"

"No, I will!"

I blinked in worry and tried to stop them. "U-Um… T-That's okay. You shouldn't fight over something l-like a seat. I can just sit next to Naru—"

"Aw! Isn't he cute?!"

"I _have_ to sit next to him now!"

"No, me!"

I sweatdropped, chuckling nervously before dropping my head with a sigh. _Why do I bother?_ I went to go ask Naruto if he wanted to move seats elsewhere, but I caught him crouching on top of Sasuke's desk, nose to nose and glaring at him. _Uh-oh…_

"N-Naruto? I don't think that's such a good idea!" I said, concerned. "Someone could bump into you and—"

I didn't get to finish before that very thing happened. The guy in front of Sasuke's seat bumping into Naruto and knocking him forward.

"What the—"

The girls gaped in shock as I stared with rosy cheeks, a hand under my nose.

"I-I tried t-t-to warn you." I muttered, just as the girls went insane and the two boys in question began gagging.

Naruto perked up, probably sensing the group of upset girls behind him, and panicked.

"Naruto, you are _so_ dead." Sakura said.

"Hey, whoa! It was an accident!" Naruto said, holding his hands up in surrender, but even I knew that wouldn't save him.

"You're finished!" Sakura growled, cracking her knuckles.

 _Now the question is, do I get involved or not?_ I sighed. _I guess I should. He is my friend, after all._ I hesitantly moved in front of Naruto, wiping away the hint of a nosebleed I'd gotten, before separating him from the rabid group of fan girls.

"U-Um, don't you think you're taking this a bit too far? I-I'm sure Naruto didn't mean to."

Some of the girls lightened up, but not all of them. Sakura was one of those.

"It doesn't matter, Takeru! He took Sasuke's first kiss!"

Some girls split off from the group and stood before me, letting me know that I had just made a big mistake.

"Don't yell at Takeru like that!" A girl shouted.

"Yeah!"

 _Oh, man… I just got the fan girls to pick sides and I doubt this is going to end without a war. How do I fix this?!_ I waved my hands, getting more worried by the minute.

"P-Please! Don't fight!"

"It's okay, Takeru! We'll protect you!" The girls in front of me said, making me sweat.

 _It's the rest of us that are going to need protecting… But how do I stop this?!_ Suddenly I came up with an idea.

"W-Wait!"

Everyone stopped and looked at me. I took a deep breath.

"I can solve everyone's problem. N-None of Sasuke's fans will sit next to him and none of my fans will sit next to me."

"What?!"

I flinched, finding all glares aimed my way as I nervously smiled and pointed at myself.

"I-I'll sit next to Sasuke. That way no one has to fight."

The girls all looked at one another, before seeming to relax, making me sigh in relief as they basically gave up their previous endeavors of fan girl war. _Thank Kami… And it looks like they forgot about Naruto kissing Sasuke too. Everyone wins._ Thankfully, before the group of girls could realize anything, Iruka came in and made the class settle down. Naruto took my previously abandoned seat behind where I was sitting. Though Sasuke made me nervous. _It doesn't look like he hates me… I could be wrong though. Naruto and I_ did _turn his hair pink that one time…_

"As of today, you are all ninjas. To get here, you've faced difficult trials and hardships, but that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only genin; first level ninjas. All the genin will be grouped into three men squads. Each squad will be led by a jounin; an elite ninja."

Everyone else seemed to realize then that they wouldn't be able to be with the people they wanted and I suddenly remembered my earlier worries. _Please let me get with Naruto._

"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities. So that's how we set them up. I will now announce the squads."

Iruka went through the list from one on up and I chewed my sleeve silently in worry, watching as students from my class were matched up a few at a time. Slowly though, there were only enough people for a few more teams.

"Squad six. Yusuke Sanda, Aneko Kogara, and Sakura Haruno."

I watched as Sakura's face fell and felt a bit bad for her. I knew she wanted to be on a team with Sasuke and, from what I could tell, she didn't know _any_ of her teammates that well. Heck, I didn't recognize them much at all.

"Squad seven." Iruka continued. "Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke Uchiha."

"I'm doomed…" Naruto said, dropping his head.

"And Takeru Kobayashi."

I perked up, feeling extremely glad and looked behind me at Naruto who cheered and gave me a thumbs up.

"All right, Takeru!"

Iruka, I noticed, gave us a small smile and went back to the list. "Next, Squad eight. Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame."

I gave Hinata and the others a small smile, having gotten along with the people in their team pretty well. _Though they're an odd group. I hope they all get along._ Squad nine was another group of people I didn't know very well, but the next group caught my attention.

"Now, Squad ten. Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, _and_ Choji Akimichi."

I peered up at Shikamaru who sighed and I quietly snickered. _Poor Shika. At least he gets to stay with Choji though. I wonder how Ino's going to take it…_

"Those are all the squads." Iruka finished, but Naruto suddenly stood up behind me and pointed at Sasuke.

"Iruka sensei! Why does a great ninja like me have to be in the same group with a slug like Sasuke?!"

"Hm." Iruka hummed, though I was a bit curious too how the adults balanced out the teams. "Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating students. Naruto, you had the worst scores. To create a balanced group, we put the best student with the worst student." The class laughed and Iruka smiled, glancing my way. "And Takeru was just about in the middle with high test scores and slightly below average physical strength. That, and he seemed like a good conductor between the two of you."

I flushed in embarrassment, hiding my face in my arms as I heard Sasuke talk to Naruto behind us.

"Just make sure you don't get in my way, loser."

"Hey, what did you say?!"

"Hard of hearing?"

"Naruto…" I sighed. "Can you just let it go this time?"

Naruto looked over at me and huffed, crossing his arms and sitting. "Fine, but only because you said so, Takeru."

Iruka cleared his throat, bringing the class's attention to the front. "After lunch, you'll meet your new jounin teachers. Until then, class dismissed."

Everyone got up and headed out, some faster than others. I spotted Sakura hurrying out in an attempt to catch up with Sasuke, and Naruto turned to me; hands clasped in front of him in a begging motion.

"Really sorry, Takeru, but is it okay if I catch up with you later? You see, I wanna try and have lunch with Sakura, so…"

I nodded. "T-That's fine, Naruto. I'll just… grab some food from a shop nearby and come back here, okay?"

He nodded with a grin, giving me a one-armed hug before heading off with a wave. "You're the best, Takeru! Thanks!"

I waved back as well, slowly dropping my hand before sighing. _Looks like I'm on my own._ I started walking to a dumpling place right outside of the school and bought some dumplings and a bag of niboshi, feeling particularly hungry for the dried fish. As I munched on the dumplings and made my way back towards the school, I spotted Naruto jumping in through a window and tackling Sasuke. Raising a brow, I watched, waiting to see who'd come out and when Sasuke did, I paused. _That… That's not Sasuke. He smells like Naruto… A clone or something?_

Naruto in disguise ran off and I sighed, finishing off my dumpling and starting to eat my niboshi and head back to class. I paused though. _Well, maybe I should help Sasuke out. I mean, we're technically teammates and… it'd be best if he doesn't hate me if we're going to end up working together._ I hummed, chewing on the head of a sardine. _Yeah, I better do it._ So, I jumped up onto the roof easily and lifted the wooden cover that had fallen over the window, peeking in to find Sasuke tied up and gagged on the floor, glaring my way.

"Y-You shouldn't glare. I'm trying to help." I said, hopping down and cutting him free.

"Hn." He grumbled, removing the tape over his mouth and heading towards the window. "Do you know where he went?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Hn, useless."

He jumped out the window and I sighed, leaning against the window sill and chewing another sardine. _Something tells me that we won't be a very good team if those two keep going at each other… Makes me wonder who's going to have it worse, me or the sensei._ I decided to head back to the classroom then to wait and once I was there, I pulled out my book and went to read until the others showed up. Part way through though, I realized something.

"I forgot to throw out that milk…"


	4. Pass or Fail

After a while of waiting, teams began returning and jounin began showing up to pick up their teams. I made sure to give Asuma and Kurenai a wave when they picked up their teams, but after that, it was just our team left. Naruto had been running off to the restroom every once in a while and I cringed, knowing that it was probably my fault and decided to own up to it since there wasn't much else to do.

"U-Um, Naruto?"

"Hm? What's up, Takeru?"

"I'm sorry."

Naruto raised a brow. "Sorry? For what?"

"I-I-I forgot to throw out the milk this morning and… I think you drank it with your breakfast while I was sleeping."

He didn't say anything for a moment, just staring as what I said finally registered. "Oh! So _that's_ what happened!" He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's okay, Takeru. That's kind of my fault too. I should have checked the date before I drank it. Heh."

I nodded and went back to staring out the window. _Well, now what?_ I settled for reading once more, enjoying the mystery behind why the main character was dancing around the subject of his past, despite having been having avid sex with the woman of his dreams. _I mean really? If you love her so much, then there shouldn't be any secrets between you, I would think._ Of course, I already knew the reason behind his hesitation, having already read this book twice through, and I knew that he was hiding the fact that he had killed his own brother in a fit of rage after he discovered that he had been having sex with his ex-girlfriend of two years that he was preparing to propose to. Before I could get any further though, Naruto began complaining.

"He's late!"

Naruto was poking his head out of the classroom and looking for our teacher, starting to get annoyed.

"Naruto, maybe you should just sit down?" I asked, not really sure what else to say.

We were _all_ bored.

"I don't want to. How come our teacher's the only one that's late? I'm ready to roll, believe it! The other groups already met _their_ new teachers and took off on some adventure or something, and Iruka-sensei's gone too."

I put my book away with a sigh, knowing that his probably wasn't going to end anytime soon.

"We're all bored, Naruto. If you really want, let's do something fun."

His eyes lit up. "Aw, yeah! I have just the thing!"

He hurried over to the chalkboard and picked up the eraser, grabbing the teacher's chair and moving it so that he could prop the eraser in the door way. I couldn't help but let a small smile on my face.

"Wait! Let's add this!" I tossed Naruto a pouch I kept on me for our usual pranks and he caught it and chuckled mischievously.

"You're the best, Takeru! This'll teach him for being late!"

He dumped some of the white powder onto the eraser and put it in the doorway, moving the chair back as Sasuke huffed.

"Our teacher's a jounin. An elite ninja. You think he'd fall for that?"

I tilted my head a bit with a little frown. "Hm, I guess not… but you never know. It could work."

I shrugged as Sasuke sighed and I heard footsteps heading our way, tapping Naruto to get his attention and pointing at the door. A gloved hand pushed the door aside and the eraser fell, landing on the head of a familiar ninja, as Naruto pointed and laughed.

"Ahaha! I got him! He totally fell for it!"

I blinked, cheeks red in embarrassment as I tried not to chuckle at Kakashi's surprised face. "S-Sorry, Kakashi. You, uh… might want to wash that out soon."

Kakashi gave me a glance and I saw his eye twitch, letting me know that he didn't appreciate the itching powder I had Naruto add to the eraser, and I shuffled nervously as he picked up the eraser and set it down with a hum.

"Hm, how can I put this? My first impression of this group…" He placed a hand on his chin in thought. "…you're a bunch of idiots."

 _I knew he'd say that._ I thought, mentally face palming.

"Meet me up on the roof." Kakashi said, disappearing in a poof of smoke.

The three of us started walking up and Naruto grumbled the whole way, with his hands behind his head.

"Hm, he thinks he's so cool. Stupid sensei."

"N-Naruto, I don't think you should be saying that. Kakashi-sensei's really tough."

He gave me a look, as did Sasuke. "Huh? Do you know him, Takeru?"

I hesitantly nodded. "K-Kind of. He's one of the people who found me. He's lazy and sometimes mean, but I think he's a good guy."

Naruto pouted. "Yeah, well… He better not be a jerk or anything."

Once we'd reached the roof, we saw Kakashi leaning up against the railing and the three of us sat down on the steps.

"Alright. Why don't you introduce yourselves one at a time?"

I tilted my head in confusion. "W-What do we say?"

Kakashi shrugged, holding out his hands. "Things you like. Things you hate. Dreams for the future. Hobbies. Things like that." He crossed his arms again.

"Why don't you tell us stuff first?" Naruto said. "Before we talk, tell us about you, so we can see how it's supposed to work."

Kakashi pointed at himself. "Me? …I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate…"

"Porn and kids." I muttered, earning a glare from him and chuckles from Naruto.

He cleared his throat. "My dreams for the future… I've never really thought about it."

 _Cause he's too busy being lazy._ I thought, deciding to keep my mouth shut after the glare he gave me earlier.

"As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies. Okay. Your turn. You on the right, you first."

Naruto grinned, playing with his headband. "Believe it. I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup and I _really_ like the ramen Iruka-sensei got me at the Ichiraku ramen shop. But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup. Oh! I like Takeru too! And his cooking is super good as long as there's no vegetables in it." Naruto gave me a grin and went back to speaking. "My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and Takeru, and start treating me like I'm somebody! Somebody important!"

"Alright, next." Kakashi said, looking over at me.

"I-I'm Takeru Kobayashi. I like niboshi and Naruto. I don't like… people who are mean to others for stupid reasons. My hobbies are reading and helping Naruto with pranks and cooking too. And, um, my dream is to help people change."

"Last one." Kakashi sent his gaze to Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I _will_ make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

I felt a small shiver race up my spine, but hid it pretty well, trying to ignore the way my scarred arm ached slightly as Kakashi decided to move on.

"Good. You're each unique and have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

"What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked, bringing a hand up in a salute.

"It's a task that the four of us will do together."

"What, what, what, what, what?!" Naruto said, practically vibrating in his seat.

"A survival exercise." Kakashi said, surprising the group.

"Huh? Survival exercise?"

"So… like what we did at the academy?" I asked, a little confused myself.

"No. This is not like your previous training."

"So, uh… So, uh, what kind of training is it then?"

Kakashi chuckled, making me fidget uncomfortably.

"U-Um, why are you laughing?"

Kakashi waved a hand. "If I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it."

"Huh?"

Kakashi suddenly grew serious. "Of the twenty-seven graduates who just came here, only _nine_ will actually be accepted as genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, this is a make it or break it, pass-fail test. And the chance that you'll fail is at least 66%."

Everyone was shocked. Even me. I mean, after all that work Naruto and I did just to graduate, now we had to do yet another test? One that we had very little chance of succeeding in too? _N-No way…_

"See?" Kakashi continued. "Didn't I tell you, you wouldn't like it?"

"That's crazy!" Naruto shouted. "We worked hard to get here! Believe it! What was that graduation test for anyway?!"

"Oh, that. That was just to select candidates who _might_ become genin. Or not."

"What?!"

I sighed, bowing my head. _I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but seriously?_

"That's how it is. _I_ decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at 5am and bring your ninja gear."

Naruto was growling in frustration, but I could see the worry on his face and I bit my bottom lip in worry as well. _Naruto's probably even more worried than me._

Kakashi got up and lifted a hand. "That's it. You're dismissed. Oh…" He glanced at us from over his shoulder. "Tomorrow you better skip breakfast, or else you'll _puke_."

 _As if things couldn't get any worse._ I thought as he disappeared in a poof of smoke. _How does he expect us to do survival training if we're starving the whole time?_ I got up and dusted myself off, silently glad that while Naruto was off playing with that kid yesterday, I had gotten us both some ninja gear. That didn't mean I was happy about this test though, and I could only hope that things turned out alright tomorrow morning. _Though knowing my luck, it probably won't._

* * *

The next morning, I was exhausted. I was nervous and on edge the whole night and didn't sleep, having reoccurring nightmares of when I was scarred waking me up whenever I even got close. I _was_ however able to get up on time and wake a sleepy Naruto up too, so we could be on time for this survival training. I wanted to make him breakfast, worried that he wouldn't be of much use without food, but I knew I should probably do as Kakashi said and just leave without anything. I didn't mind though. I wasn't really feeling up to making anything today and I was worried I might _actually_ puke with how nervous I was. _I still brought a pack of niboshi with me though. They help me keep calm in nervous situations._

By now though, I was too tired and had fallen asleep waiting for Kakashi to show up. 5am had long gone and the sun was already pretty high up in the sky from what I saw when I peeked out from my position leaned up against a tree with my head on Naruto's shoulder. He didn't seem to mind, after all, probably knowing that I hadn't gotten any sleep anyway. I only completely woke up when I heard someone approaching and perked up, catching Naruto's attention as well, as the three of us spotted Kakashi heading our way.

"Morning, everyone. Ready for your first day?"

"Hey, you're late!" Naruto shouted, standing up quickly as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way." He said, making up an excuse.

Naruto growled in frustration, not believing what he said for an instant, but Kakashi just ignored him and continued.

"Well…" He cleared his throat. "Let's get started."

He headed over to a post nearby and dug through the pack on his back, pulling out an alarm clock and setting it down.

"Here we go. It's set for noon." He then pulled out two bells. "You assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it. If you can't get them by noon, you go without lunch.

"Wha?!" Naruto shouted, obviously displeased.

"You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch while I eat _my_ lunch in front of you." Kakashi said, gesturing to three posts.

While the others were worried about their lunch, I frowned, seeing a flaw in this supposed survival test.

"But… there's three of us. Why are there only two bells?" I asked, making Kakashi chuckle.

"Well that way, at least one of you will end up tied to a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy. Then again, all three of you could flunk out too. You can use any weapons, including shuriken. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells."

He gave me a pointed look, and I swallowed nervously. _Kill Kakashi? But… he's not bad… he's just trying to teach us something, right? Why would I have to kill him for something like that? Ugh, I really don't like this. Why put us in teams anyway, if we're just going to have to fight each other like this?_ Naruto laughed then, drawing my attention to him.

"Ahaha! Kill you? You couldn't even dodge that eraser!"

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links. You can safely ignore them. Lowest scores. Losers."

I looked between the two anxiously. _Don't rile him up, Kakashi. I'd rather not have to be the one getting him out of a tough situation this time around._

"When I say start, you can begin."

Naruto didn't even wait before pulling out a kunai and charging at Kakashi. Before I even knew what happened, Kakashi swiftly brought Naruto's arm behind his head and held the kunai to the back of his neck.

"Don't be in such a hurry. I didn't say start yet."

I felt a shiver rack my body as I realized the seriousness of this test. _He was fast. Too fast. There's no way any of us could possibly keep up. Maybe Sasuke, but even that seems like a bit of a stretch. I know better than to underestimate Kakashi, having been on the other side of that blade before, but I don't know if this test is even possible!_ Kakashi let Naruto go, and Sasuke and I took a few steps back.

"But, you came at me with the full intention of destroying me so, how can I say this? I'm actually starting to like you guys." Kakashi then got serious. "Get ready… And… Start!"

The three of us jumped off, each hiding in different areas. Sasuke was over in a tree to my left, his scent blowing towards me, whereas I was down wind of Kakashi and hiding up in a tree as well. Naruto, on the other hand…

"Ninja must know how to conceal their movements and hide effectively." Kakashi said, before spotting Naruto. "Huh?"

"You and me. Right now, fair and square! Let's go!"

Naruto, being the big idiot that he was, was standing right in front of Kakashi with his arms folded in front of him. _Like he actually stands a chance… Boy, does he need a wakeup call._

"You know, compared to the others, you're a little bit… weird."

"Oh yeah? The only thing weird here is your haircut!"

I nearly face-faulted out of the tree at that, but caught the branch just in time and proceeded to get back up and watch as Naruto charged. Kakashi reached into the pouch at his side, causing Naruto to stop—cautious enough to know it could be a weapon— but what Kakashi pulled out nearly had me falling out of the tree once again.

"Shinobi battle techniques, part one. Taijutsu. The physical part."

 _Icha Icha Paradise?! You've got to be kidding me!_

"What the—" Even Naruto was shocked.

"What are you waiting for? Make your move." Kakashi said.

"But—I mean—Why are you reading that book?"

" _Why_? To find out what happens in the story, of course. Don't let it bother you. With your weak attacks, it doesn't really matter if I'm reading or… whatever."

That got Naruto extremely frustrated and I mentally sighed at how easily riled up he was. _I better go stop him before he does something stupid._ Getting up as Naruto charged again, I jumped out from my spot in the tree and landed a bit in front of Naruto, sticking my foot out so I tripped him before he could get close to Kakashi.

"Oof!" Naruto lifted his face out of the dirt and glared at me. "Hey, Takeru! What was that for?! I was just about to—"

I took my foot and shoved his face back into the dirt, giving Kakashi a small nervous smile.

"S-Sorry. I'll just, uh, be borrowing him for a minute."

"Okay?"

I reached down and picked Naruto up from off the ground by his collar, walking back into the forest with him shouting curses at me the whole way. Once into the forest a ways, I quickly shut him up and moved to another point, so as to keep our position hidden.

"Naruto, you idiot!" I quietly scolded. "Did you really think you could do anything to Kakashi?!"

He huffed. "I was doing just fine, Takeru!"

I dragged a hand down my face, before kneeling in front of Naruto seriously. "Naruto, how do you and I do pranks?"

"Huh? What does that have to do with—"

"Just… answer." I grumbled.

He frowned a bit. "Well, I usually come up with the prank and you do all the technical stuff like the escape routes and how to do the most damage and stuff."

I nodded. "Right. And _why_ do we do it that way?"

"So we won't get caught."

"Yup, so how about we do that now, huh? I-I know you want to just charge in there and beat him up with your shadow clones for making fun of you, b-b-but in a way, he's right."

"Huh?!"

I shook my head. "We can't beat him, Naruto. It's like Sasuke said, h-he's an elite ninja. You saw how quickly he moved before? And that book he took out, that's him telling us t-that we're not a threat. T-That there's nothing we can do."

"But we have to do _something_ , Takeru! If not, we'll have to go back to the academy!"

"I-I know. That's why I think I have an idea, but I can't do it alone."

Naruto smirked. "That's why you have me, right?"

I nodded, but gave Naruto a worried look. "Y-You're not going to like this, b-but we might need Sasuke's help too."

I thought I picked up a noise then and quickly tapped the floor a few times, letting Naruto know something was up and to do a substitution. We both did and just in time too, the noise I thought I heard had actually been Kakashi, so I was glad we were able to get away. As we hurried off though, I gave Naruto a heads up.

"Naruto, I-I'm going to try and convince Sasuke to help, can you distract Kakashi?"

He gave me a thumbs up. "You bet. Just leave it to me."

He hurried off one way as I used my nose to find Sasuke's scent. It wasn't hard, him obviously not used too hiding downwind from people, and I soon found him under a bush. Being as silent as I could to not give our positions away, I came up beside him and tried not to make a sound as he slipped a kunai up to my face.

"You… How did you find me?"

"Y-You're upwind." I stuttered out, eying the blade mere centimeters from my eye.

He slowly put it away and turned to see Naruto distracting Kakashi. "What do you want? Find your own place to hide, coward."

I winced at the name, but bit my lip, knowing that I had to at least try to get Sasuke to help.

"W-We need your help." I said, trying to sound as appeasing as I could. "I have a plan on how we can get a bell, b-but you're the only one here who's fast enough."

"Che, _me_? Work with you and that idiot?"

"I-It's the only way!" I whispered seriously. "You said so yourself, he's an elite. Do you really think one genin on his own can beat him? H-He doesn't even consider us a threat!"

Sasuke let out a sharp breath from him nose, mockingly. "He will when I'm through with him."

Sasuke then got up and left, leaving me worried about how we were going to pull this off without him. _The only thing I could possibly do is a clone, but I-I really don't think I'm quick enough. I'll have to try something though._ I looked over to see if Naruto was still distracting Kakashi, only to spot him hanging upside-down in a tree and Kakashi mocking him from below as he struggled.

"A ninja must see through deception."

"I… get… it… gah!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you this, because you _don't_ get it. You _think_ you get it, which is not the same as actually getting it. Get it?"

Suddenly, kunai flew out of nowhere and he was stabbed. My heart stopped for a moment, but his body poofed into a log and I relaxed a bit. Not much though, because I knew that since Kakashi wasn't in front of Naruto, he must be elsewhere. I heard the slightest hint of a breath behind me and quickly did a flip out of the tree, dodging the kunai aimed my way.

"Oh? You heard me?" Kakashi said, sounding a bit surprised.

I landed out in the open with a small skid, chuckling a little. "S-Sort of."

 _I need to get Naruto down and start with the plan._ I pulled out a shuriken and threw it where I had been, a lame attempt to guessing where Kakashi was, but it did what it was supposed to do and landed with a 'thunk' in the tree before a little ball attached to it exploded with a bunch of smoke. Using that as my cover, I hid in the fog and hurried towards where Naruto was, only for my path to be blocked by a grinning Kakashi.

"You're kind of predictable, Takeru. Your caring for others before yourself could almost be considered a fault."

I smiled. "T-Too bad, Kakashi. Naruto isn't who I was aiming for."

"Hm?"

"Now!"

A bunch of Narutos came out of nowhere and grabbed onto Kakashi, who sighed.

"The same trick isn't going to work twice on me."

I disappeared in a puff of smoke as well, to reveal a grinning Naruto.

"That's okay, Kakashi sensei! Takeru knew that already."

A huge shuriken came out of nowhere, making Kakashi have to duck to the ground as the Naruto clones released him or poofed away, but what he didn't see, was me sliding along the grass that Naruto had wet earlier and reaching towards one of the bells until it was nearly too late. My fingers just barely wrapped around the string and pulled one bell off, but Kakashi spotted me and I knew I was in trouble when he reached around and went to stab me with a kunai.

My eyes widened and my breathing shortened as the sight of the blade approached, flashbacks from my encounter in the forest streaking across my vision and I froze. I blanked out and all I could see what that kunai heading for me. That man shouting 'monster' in the background and fire dancing in my eyes. I must have stopped breathing at some point, because it felt like my body was struggling with something. Like there wasn't enough air in the world to drag me out of whatever hole I'd fallen into. Then, everything came flooding back with one shout.

"Takeru!"

Naruto's voice snapped me out of it and I twisted, dodging the kunai and slipping under Kakashi as he fell, bringing a leg up and kicking him harshly in the back. He disappeared with a poor of smoke, a log being thrown up in his place, but I was still in a state of panic. I didn't know why I froze or what had happened. I still couldn't get a full breath and was struggling to remember what I was doing. Where I was, who I was with. I needed a distraction and I needed one _now_.

I gripped the bell in my palm tightly and bolted into the forest, running for the highest tree and climbing as high as I could go, deaf to the worried calls of Naruto calling out for me. The coolness of the bell in my palm was the only thing that registered to me in that moment. _N-N-Need to calm down. N-Need to think._ I pulled out a niboshi from my pocket and chewed on it, trying to focus. _What was I doing? A-A plan to get the bells, right? F-For the test. Right, the test. I-I-I need to find Naruto._ Using that as my distraction, I shakily climbed down and began searching. I had gotten a ways away from the area where we were, but soon found my way back and spotted something I didn't expect. Sasuke was buried up to his head in dirt in front of me.

"S-Sasuke?"

He glared. "Shut up."

I don't know why, but seeing him the way he was helped me shove everything that just happened aside and I switched focus.

"Do you, um, w-want help?"

His glare deepened. "I don't need your help."

"O-Oh…" We both grew silent, but I made a clone and wandered over to Sasuke, kneeling down and looking at him. "I-I'll leave a clone, if you do. And, um… asking f-for help w-won't make you any less of a… man…"

 _Well, that sounded stupid…_ I headed off though, determined to find Naruto and try again for another bell, hoping that this time, I wouldn't freeze up like I did. I paused in my step, flashing back to that moment, before shaking it off; the light tinkering of the bell in my hand keeping my mind on track. Finally, I caught up with Naruto's scent, but found it odd that it wasn't moving. Just as I peeked my head out of the trees, the alarm clock went off and I just quietly walked out, head bowed.

 _Oh man. Naruto's going to hate me. Because I ran off with the bell, he probably got caught and tied to the post like this. I'm so stupid. W-Why did I freeze like that?_ I gripped the bell tighter in my hand as I approached the tied up Naruto and Kakashi, and it wasn't long before I felt my clone disappear and Sasuke came out from the trees as well. _And he's not happy either. Great…_ Kakashi reached into his backpack and pulled out two bento boxes, setting them down on the grass in front of Naruto, Sasuke and I as our stomachs growled hungrily.

"Uh-oh, stomachs growling, huh?" Kakashi said, arms folded over his chest. "That's too bad. Oh, by the way, about this exercise? Well, I've decided, I won't send _any_ of you back to the academy."

Needless to say, I was pleasantly shocked as were the others. _W-We passed? But how?_

"Then, then, that means all three of us—I mean, all three of us—"

"Yes." Kakashi grinned. "All three of you are being dropped from the program. _Permanently_."

My face fell as did Naruto's and even Sasuke seemed to be unhappy with what Kakashi said. _I-Is it my fault? Because I froze and ran away, d-did I fail us all?_

"Drop us from the program?!" Naruto shouted, swinging his feet in outrage. "That means we can _never_ become ninja! You said if we couldn't take the bells, then we would be sent back to the academy! You can't just change your mind and kick us out! Why would you do that?!"

"Because you don't think like ninja. You think like little kids. Like brats."

Sasuke suddenly stood up and charged, but Kakashi easily pinned him to the ground, sitting on his back with a foot on his head.

"You think it's all about you. You don't know what it _means_ to be a ninja! You think it' a game, huh? Takeru is probably the only one who knew that being a ninja wasn't all about fun."

I winced, looking down. _I knew from the beginning. Being a ninja means killing people. Actually harming them._ Kakashi continued, ignoring all of our inner turmoil.

"Why do you think we put you on squads? Did you consider that question for one moment? I mean, you never realized what this exercise is all about. Not even close."

"What it's about?" Naruto questioned, and that's when it clicked.

"Yes. That's what determines whether you pass or fail."

 _I wondered that before… Why put us on squads if we were just going to have to fight one another? Is this just another test for something? But if it is, what is Kakashi trying to teach us?_

"Che, use your head. Three people on a squad. Why do you think we would do that?"

Naruto was beginning to get frustrated. "Ah! How are we supposed to know why you picked three people?! We didn't make the rules!"

I frowned slightly. _Could it be…?_

"It's so basic. Teamwork! It's too late now, but if all three of you had come at me, you _might_ have been able to take them. Well, anyway, it's over." Kakashi said, looking fed up with us, but I wanted to confirm something.

 _I was right…_ "U-Um, then the reason there were only two bells… that was to make us fight?"

"Exactly. I purposely pitted you against each other."

"Huh?!" Naruto shouted, still confused.

"I wanted to see if you could overcome that and put the squad ahead of yourselves. A genin should have a natural feel for teamwork. But _you_ , it never even crossed your mind. Naruto! You do everything on your own, _everything_. And _you_ , Sasuke, thought the others were so far beneath you, they were worthless. Arrogance. Takeru, you were a bit closer to the right track."

I fidgeted, worried as eyes went to me.

"You understood right away that it would be impossible to defeat me on your own and took it upon yourself to get help. That's where you were right, however, when you went to ask for Sasuke's help, you could have tried harder to gain his favor. Your lack of self-confidence prevented that. Running off as well, was the absolute _worse_ decision you could have made in this exercise. You _abandoned_ your teammates and left them to try an attempt on their own. If this were a _real_ mission, you would have gotten them killed."

I felt tears pricking the corner of my eyes, knowing that he was right. That I was a horrible person for running off and abandoning Naruto. I didn't have control over it though. One minute I saw that kunai and the next I was in a panic. My body moved on its own before I even knew what was going on. But that was just an excuse, and I knew it. If I really wanted to become a ninja, I needed to get over that fear and push through it. Running should have been the last thing I did.

"Ninja missions are carried out in squads." Kakashi continued. "Of course, you need individual skills, but teamwork is the most essential element. Every shinobi understands this. When individuals put themselves above the squad, this can lead to failure and death. For example…" He pulled out a kunai from his pouch and held it to Sasuke's throat. "Takeru, kill Naruto now, or Sasuke dies!"

My eyes widened and I looked over at Naruto and back at Sasuke, knowing that I couldn't do such a thing. I couldn't allow either one to die, let alone, kill one of them myself.

"That's what happens on a mission." Kakashi said, pulling the kunai away from Sasuke's neck and spinning it around his finger. "The enemy takes a hostage and you've got an impossible choice, and someone ends up dead." Kakashi put the kunai away and stood, walking over to a large black stone nearby. "On every mission, your life is on the line. Did you look at this stone? The names engraved on it? They are all ninja, who are all honored as heroes in our village."

"That's it! That's it! That's it!" Naruto said loudly. "Now I know! I've decided that I'm going to have _my_ name engraved on that stone! I'm not going to live and die for nothing like a dog! I'm going to be a hero! A hero!"

I bit my bottom lip, knowing that the names on that stone weren't there just because they were heroic. It was a memorial stone, one I had come across a while ago while wandering the village. The people on that stone, were killed in action. Dead.

"They are… a special kind of hero." Kakashi said, but Naruto only got more excited.

"Huh? What kind of heroes are they? Come on, tell us!"

Kakashi was silent.

"Well, well?"

"They're all K.I.A."

"Oh. That sounds real cool."

I shook my head, catching Naruto's attention. "T-They're killed in action, Naruto. They're people who d-died."

Naruto realized his mistake and grew solemn, Kakashi continuing to speak.

"This is a memorial stone. The names of my closest friends are engraved here."

"Y-Your old friend too?" I questioned, making Kakashi look at me from over his shoulder briefly.

"Yes. Him too…" He gave the stone one last look, before turning around. "Alright, I'm going to give you one more chance. But I'm going to make it much harder on you. You'll have three hours to get a bell. Eat lunch now to build up strength, but Naruto doesn't get any. It's your punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat by yourself. And if anyone tries to feed him, that person will immediately fail. _I_ make the rules. You follow them. Got it?"

He held his hand out towards me, and I handed him the bell I still had, surprising Sasuke. Kakashi disappeared then, in a poof of smoke and Sasuke took his eyes off me, sat back and started eating. I couldn't do it though. I just stared at the food before me and didn't touch it. _I'm horrible. Abandoning people just because of some fear… I don't deserve to eat this._ I _should be the one tied to that post… not Naruto…_ Naruto's stomach growled then, and he put on a tough guy act.

"This is no big deal! I can go without eating for days! For weeks! Believe it! This is no big deal!" His stomach growled again, making him loose his confidence. "No problem…"

Oddly enough, before I could offer Naruto my food, Sasuke offered his.

"Here."

"Huh? But what about what Kakashi said?" Naruto questioned.

"Kakashi's gone. We need to get those bells as a team. If you're hungry, you'll be week and ineffective. That hurts the team and jeopardizes the mission."

"Uh…"

I held out my bento too, head bowed. "Take mine. I don't deserve it anyway, after running off…"

"That's not true!" Naruto shouted, shocking me. "You were just scared, right? I get it! I mean, you know this Kakashi guy better than I do, so you know what he's capable of, right? I'd probably be pretty scared too! Besides, you've… been through some rough times too. So… So being afraid is nothing to worry about! You just have to get stronger and braver, right?"

I nodded, a small smile on my face as I glanced at my scarred arm. "O-Okay, b-b-but you still need to eat. I-I actually brought some snacks with me so… it's okay if you eat my bento."

"Cool! B-But, uh, I can't move my hands, Takeru." He chuckled nervously. "You're going to have to feed me."

"Hurry up." Sasuke said. "He could come back at any minute."

I nodded and used the chopsticks to feed Naruto some of the rice from the bento. Just then though, smoke appeared and the wind blew harshly as Kakashi showed himself.

" _You!_ You broke the rules! I hope you're ready for the punishment!" Kakashi did some hand signs and dark clouds gathered, sparking with lightning and thunder. "Any last words?"

"B-But you said…" I started off.

"Yes?"

"You said that there were three of us!" Naruto shouted for me. "That's what you said! And that's why… Takeru and…"

Sasuke noticed Naruto losing his confidence and picked up for him. "We're all on this squad and we're all in it together!"

I nodded, trying to gather some courage. "Y-Yeah! We gave our lunch to him b-because we're a team! T-The three of us are one!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Naruto shouted, squirming. "Believe it! That's right!"

"The three of you are one? That's your excuse?!" Kakashi asked, bending over to glare at us. "Hm, you pass."

"W-What?"

"Huh?"

"You… pass." Kakashi repeated, but I still couldn't believe it.

"I-I don't understand…" I muttered. "How?"

"You're the first squad that ever succeeded." Kakashi said as the dark clouds slowly went away. "The others did exactly what I said and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves. A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum. That's true, but… those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

My heart fell into my stomach at those words, remembering what Kakashi had said earlier about me abandoning my teammates, and all of my confidence vanished. _Worse that scum? …I'm… worse?_

"He's, uh… you know. He's kinda cool." Naruto said, oblivious to my inner turmoil.

"The exercise is over. Everyone passes! Squad seven starts its first mission tomorrow!" Kakashi said, giving us a thumbs up.

"I did it! I did it! Believe it! I'm a ninja! Ninja! Ninja!"

Kakashi turned. "Let's go home."

Sasuke got up and followed him, whereas I helped Naruto get out of the ropes he was in, allowing him to hurry after Kakashi. I wasn't nearly as excited though. Those last words Kakashi said made me sick to my stomach. _Worse that scum… Monster… Disgusting…_ I sniffled, wiping the tears that threatened to pool over as I walked a ways behind everyone else. _I shouldn't have passed with them._ Little did I know, Kakashi had spotted me and sent the others on ahead as he backtracked.

"You okay, Takeru?"

I looked up at him and flinched back, worried that he was back to scold me for what I did.

"Hey, there." He said calmly, reaching out slowly. "What's going on?"

"N-No. I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean t-to run off! P-Please don't hurt me." I whimpered, shrinking into myself as Kakashi approached me in worry.

"Takeru, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know what's wrong."

"W-Why?! Why did you pass me?!" I asked, confusion mixing with my panicked state. "I-I ran away! I abandoned Naruto! I-I'm worse than scum!"

Kakashi knelt down before me. "Takeru, I passed you because you are the one who tried to get them working together. I believe you can help bring this team closer together as a whole. You're smart and I think you could bring a lot to this team."

"B-But I left him there! H-H-He would've died if this were a mission!"

"But it wasn't, Takeru." Kakashi said, surprising me. "This wasn't a real mission and I know you've been through some rough patches in your life. Whatever happened to you has obviously had a great effect on you. But now that I know how you would react in that sort of situation, I can help you prepare for the next one. I can help you become strong enough not to give in to your fears."

I swallowed thickly, biting my bottom lip in worry. "Y-You can make it stop?"

He smiled, placing a hand on my head. "I can certainly try, but you have to be willing to try too. If it's all one sided, then we won't be able to accomplish much of anything."

"O-Okay." I muttered quietly. "Sorry."

"It's alright. Just cheer up, okay? I'll even buy you some dango, since I've heard you like it."

"R-Really?"

He chuckled at my renewed excitement. "Sure."

I smiled a little and followed him as we caught up with the others, giving me some time to think over what he'd told me. _Maybe he's right. Maybe… Maybe I_ can _get strong enough to overcome this fear. And… maybe_ I _can be the one to help Naruto._ I eyed the rambunctious blonde as he skipped around in excitement about the prospect of food. _I can help him and… and I can finally start making a difference._


End file.
